CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011.

John Penrose: The Department's target to reduce carbon emissions from offices by 10% includes DCMS and its executive agency, the Royal Parks. For the period 1 May 2010 to 31 August 2010 it is estimated that carbon emissions have decreased by 16% compared to the same period the previous year.
	The following initiatives have been identified to ensure that the target of reducing emissions by 10% by May 2011 will be met:
	 DCMS
	Reduce running times of fan coil units
	Lighting adjustments
	Sequencing of the boiler and chiller
	Reduced cooling in the data centre
	Virtualisation of the data centre
	 The Royal Parks
	Housekeeping
	Boiler replacement.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

John Penrose: In September 2008 the Department installed a system to filter and bottle tap water on site. The Department now no longer purchases bottled water.

Departmental Furniture

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on soft furnishings and furniture in each year from 1997-98 to 2006-07.

John Penrose: The amount spent by the Department on furniture from 2005 to 2007 is set out in the table. The Department does not hold information prior to 2005.
	
		
			   Furniture costs (£) 
			 2005 9,035 
			 2006 358,589 
			 2007 331,926 
		
	
	Due to the way information has been collated we are unable to disaggregate the costs of soft furnishings from the overall expenditure without incurring a disproportionate cost.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many officials his Department has appointed on fixed-term contracts since 7 May 2010.

John Penrose: Since 7 May 2010, the Department has appointed three officials on fixed-term contracts.

Departmental Manpower

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many  (a) officials of his Department and  (b) external advisers are working on his Department's review of the National Lottery.

John Penrose: Six officials are spending part of their time on the reforms to the national lottery. No external advisers are involved.

Departmental Press: Subscriptions

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on newspapers and magazines in each year between 1997-98 and 2005-06.

John Penrose: The information set out in the table shows expenditure incurred by the Department on subscriptions for hard copy and online magazines, newspapers, books and other publications, access to specific research databases, the Stationery Office and other parliamentary information sources as well as legal online and hard copy updating services.
	Due to the way information has been collated we are unable to disaggregate the cost of newspapers and magazines from the overall expenditure, for the timeframe requested, without incurring a disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Financial year  Cost (£) 
			 2005-06 149,032.92 
			 2004-05 160,896.15 
			 2003-04 133,119.30 
			 2002-03 173,411.08 
			 2001-02 131,096.02 
			 2000-01 122,884.86 
			 1999-2000 114,658.81 
			 1998-99 86,627.81 
			 1997-98 95,412.71

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid a salary.

John Penrose: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 13 September 2010,  Official Report, column 746W. No interns were paid at national minimum wage or above.

Horse Racing: Betting

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he has considered the merits of franchising the Tote on a basis similar to that of the National Lottery.

John Penrose: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed in the Budget on 22 June that the Government will, over the next 12 months, resolve the future of the Tote in a way that secures value for the taxpayer while recognising the support the Tote currently provides the racing industry.
	A variety of possible approaches are being discussed with different stakeholders, and the Government will continue to talk to all parties with an interest in the Tote during that process. We will announce which structure has been agreed as soon as possible.

Listed Buildings

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many buildings have been listed  (a) nationally,  (b) in the North West and  (c) in Merseyside in each of the last five years.

John Penrose: The figures for additions to the statutory list of listed buildings for the last five years have been supplied by English Heritage and are set out in the table:
	
		
			  Number of additions to the statutory list 
			   Nationally  North West  Merseyside 
			 2005-06 446 27 5 
			 2006-07 404 26 5 
			 2007-08 491 66 14 
			 2008-09 451 30 19 
			 2009-10 492 46 8

Newspaper Press: Subscriptions

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport to what local newspapers his Department has subscribed in the last five years; on what date each such subscription started; and what the cost to the public purse of such subscriptions has been since 2001

John Penrose: In the last five years the Department has subscribed to two local newspapers, the  Yorkshire Post (from July 2007 to May 2010) at a cost of £450, and the  Exeter Express and Echo (from June 2009 to May 2010) at a cost of £250. All local newspaper subscriptions were cancelled when the current Secretary of State took office.

Sports: Females

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps he plans to take to increase the number of women on national governing bodies of sport.

Hugh Robertson: Diversity should be encouraged at all levels in sport, from the boards of the national governing bodies (NGB) of sport to volunteers and participants at grass roots level. Sport England is delivering this through NGB Whole Sport Plans with the support of the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation.
	The Equality Standard in Sport continues to be implemented throughout the NGB and national and regional sports organisations in England. It will make sure that decision-makers in sport respond to the needs of all under-represented individuals, groups and communities, including women and girls.

Sports: Females

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation on increasing the participation of women in sport.

Hugh Robertson: I have met the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) and will be looking to have regular discussions with them, as well as the other national partners, to discuss equality and diversity issues in sport.
	I have also met with the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport.
	The Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation is actively engaged with all national governing bodies of sport, working in a consultancy capacity to advise them individually on the best approach to increasing women's participation in sport.

Tourism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport which 15 destinations in  (a) Essex,  (b) Hertfordshire,  (c) the City of London area of London and  (d) the Metropolitan Police area of London were most frequently visited by tourists in each of the last three years.

John Penrose: This information is not held in the format requested.
	Visit England has advised that the United Kingdom Tourism Survey (domestic) data for 2006-09 places the following destinations as being the most frequently visited places in the following areas:
	 Essex
	Colchester
	Tendring
	Chelmsford
	Southend-on-Sea
	Uttlesford
	Braintree
	Basildon
	Thurrock
	Epping Forest
	Maldon
	Brentwood
	Harlow
	Castle Point
	Rochford
	 Hertfordshire
	Dacorum
	St Albans
	Watford
	East Hertfordshire
	North Hertfordshire
	Stevenage
	Welwyn Hatfield
	Broxbourne
	Hertsmere
	Three Rivers
	 Inner London
	City of London
	Westminster City of
	Kensington and Chelsea
	Camden
	Wandsworth
	Lambeth
	Hammersmith and Fulham
	Southwark
	Islington
	Haringey
	Tower Hamlets
	Lewisham
	Hackney
	Newham
	 Outer London
	Hounslow
	Bromley
	Croydon
	Richmond upon Thames
	Bexley
	Barnet
	Kingston upon Thames
	Ealing
	Greenwich
	Hillingdon
	Brent
	Merton
	Barking and Dagenham
	Enfield
	Havering
	Further data on international tourist destinations in the UK are provided by VisitBritain and can be found on its website at:
	http://www.visitbritain.org/insightsandstatistics/inboundvisitorstatistics/regions/towns.aspx

Voluntary Organisations: Contracts

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what contracts his Department has awarded to voluntary sector organisations in the last two years; and what the monetary value was of each such contract.

John Penrose: Contracts awarded by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport during the past two financial years to voluntary sector organisations are set out in the table:
	
		
			  Contract  Supplier  Total spend 2008-09 and 2009-10 (£) 
			 Cultural Contact Point Visiting Arts 12,500 
			 Promotion of International Arts in the UK (1)- 300,000 
			
			 Children's Play Advice and Information Dissemination Service National Children's Bureau 284,483 
			 Provision of Children's Play Policy and Research Services Play England (Part of National Children's Bureau) (1)- 
			
			 Economic Impact of the 2012 games Work Foundation 51,112 
			
			 Play worker Training and Educational Programme Skills Active 584,000 
			 (1) Indicates brace.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Birds: Nature Conservation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what  (a) steps her Department is taking and  (b) funding her Department provides to encourage an increase in the grey partridge population.

Richard Benyon: The grey partridge is a farmland species whose population trend is declining. It is currently being targeted by Environmental Stewardship (ES)-an agri-environment scheme, administered by Natural England-that provides financial support to farmers to manage their land effectively for environmental and wildlife outcomes. ES includes a number of land-management options designed to deliver the nesting and year-round feeding habitats required by farmland birds.
	Recent research by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, funded by Natural England, suggests that three ES groups of options have consistently shown positive effects on farmland birds, including grey partridges. These are: beetle banks; conservation headlands; and wild bird seed mixtures. A total of £34.2 million will be paid to farmers for these three groups of options over the 10-year life of the agreements (initiated since 2005) for tailored management arrangements, known as Higher Level Scheme agreements. In addition, a further £2.57 million was paid in the past 12 months to farmers implementing these options through the Entry Level Scheme, which requires a simpler, generic management approach.
	The grey partridge may also benefit from the Campaign for the Farmed Environment work by farmers. This is an industry-led initiative to which DEFRA is contributing £1.5 million over three years. The campaign seeks to improve the environmental benefits of farmland across three schemes including one focused on increasing the populations of species of farmland birds that are currently in decline.

Contracts

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what contracts her Department has awarded to voluntary sector organisations in the last two years; and what the monetary value was of each such contract.

Richard Benyon: The Department, including its Executive Agencies, have not awarded any contracts for goods and/or services to any identifiable voluntary sector organisations in the last two years.

Dairy Farming: Lincolnshire

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether funding has been  (a) applied for and  (b) granted under (i) the Rural Development Programme for England and (ii) another of her Department's programmes in respect of the proposed large-scale dairy farm in Nocton, Lincolnshire.

James Paice: Although an early expression of interest for aid, under the Rural Development Programme for England, was submitted by Nocton Dairies Ltd, no formal application for funding has been received or granted, either under that programme, or under any of the other schemes operated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Departmental Legislation

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many statutory duties were placed on local authorities by legislation introduced by her Department and its predecessors in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The full response to this question could be made only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials her Department has appointed on a fixed-term contract since 7 May 2010.

Richard Benyon: 30 officials were appointed to DEFRA on fixed-term contracts since 7 May 2010, with nine of these appointments made after new recruitment restrictions were put in place on 24 May.

Food: Production

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the UK increases its level of self-sufficiency in food production.

James Paice: The Government are committed to supporting British agriculture and encouraging increased UK production. The UK is currently 72% self-sufficient in all indigenous foods, a higher proportion than in the 1950s; the Government wish to see this downward trend reverse. The UK is also a significant exporter of wheat, lamb, dairy products and breakfast cereals.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the proportion of ozone-depleting substances in the UK attributable to  (a) refrigerators,  (b) building foams and  (c) other sources.

Richard Benyon: We have not made any specific assessment of the proportion of ozone-depleting substances attributable to these different sources. The Department commissioned some independent research last year into the quantity of ozone-depleting substances present in building foams in the UK. This research will be published soon and consideration will be given to whether it could provide a basis for developing guidance for the construction industry on dealing with ozone-depleting substances in building foams.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department has taken to prevent the release of ozone-depleting substances in the construction and demolition industries.

Richard Benyon: EU Regulation 1005/2009 on substances that deplete the ozone layer requires controlled substances in products and equipment, including building foams, to be recovered for destruction, recycling or reclamation where this is "technically and economically feasible". The technical and economic feasibility of recovering and destroying ozone-depleting substances in building foams at the end of life is currently being considered by the European Commission.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance her Department has issued to  (a) the Environment Agency,  (b) local authorities and  (c) private contractors on the safe use and disposal of materials containing ozone-depleting substances.

Richard Benyon: The Department has not issued any such guidance. In 2002 the Environment Agency issued guidance on the recovery and disposal of controlled ozone-depleting substances in refrigerators and freezers.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who is responsible for monitoring the safe and proper disposal of ozone-depleting substances from demolished buildings and demolition sites.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency is responsible for ensuring that any waste is disposed of in accordance with a relevant environmental permit or exemption.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect on the  (a) environment and  (b) economy of establishing an isolated waste stream for building foam containing ozone-depleting substances arising from demolition.

Richard Benyon: The Department commissioned some independent research last year which seeks to quantify the amount of ozone-depleting substances present in building foams in the UK and examine the environmental and economic impact of different treatment routes. This research will be published soon and consideration will be given to whether it could provide a basis for developing guidance for the construction industry on dealing with ozone-depleting substances in building foams.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the quantity of ozone- depleting substances which entered landfill sites in each of the last 10 years.

Richard Benyon: These data are not collected.

Poultry: Animal Welfare

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what recent representations she has received on the introduction of a No. 4 production code for enriched eggs to differentiate them from eggs produced using conventional cages after 1 January 2012;
	(2)  what discussions she has had at EU level on the introduction of a ban on eggs and egg products produced from hens housed in conventional cages after 1 January 2012.

James Paice: The UK Government remain entirely committed to the conventional cage ban coming into force on 1 January 2012 and to supporting industry during this transitional stage. I have received many questions and concerns from UK egg industry representatives and egg producers regarding the introduction of a code 4 for eggs. These concerns have been raised with the European Commission which has made it clear that the introduction of an additional production code would be confusing to consumers and thus is not an option it is willing to consider.
	I recently wrote to the Commission about my concerns about the possible non-compliance with the EU-wide ban on eggs and egg products produced from hens housed in conventional cages after 1 January 2012 and requested that it begin work on a practical enforcement solution to help manage the transition across Europe. This might be through the introduction of an intra-community ban on the trade in eggs produced by hens still housed in conventional cages after 1 January 2012. In practice this would mean that such eggs may be sold in the member state of production for a limited period only. This will help protect compliant producers and ensure that they are not disadvantaged if there is any delay to the ban, or other member states do not meet the 2012 deadline.

Poultry: EU Law

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has received recent representations on the effects on  (a) poultry farms,  (b) the (i) price and (ii) quality of eggs and  (c) the welfare of hens of full implementation of the EU regulations on laying hens.

James Paice: DEFRA has ongoing communication with the laying hen industry and I am meeting the British Egg Industry Council very soon. I also recently met with Compassion in World Farming, which included a discussion on laying hen welfare.

Recycling: Planning Permission

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what regulations govern the proximity of industrial recycling sites to residential areas.

Richard Benyon: Any development or use is subject to the need for planning permission from the relevant planning authority under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Current planning policy expects local authorities to assess the suitability of proposed sites for waste management facilities against certain locational criteria. These include the physical and environmental constraints on development, existing and proposed neighbouring land uses, and any significant adverse impacts on environmental quality.
	The operation of a waste management facility is also subject to an environmental permit under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. In prescribed cases the operator of a recycling site facility may benefit from an exemption from the need for a permit. Environmental permits for waste operations are generally granted by the Environment Agency and the agency may only grant a permit for certain 'specified waste management activities' where relevant planning permission is in force.

Rural Areas

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the measures to retain key services in rural communities.

Richard Benyon: The Government are committed to ensuring that rural people have fair access to public services, including health, education and transport, and my Department works to ensure that those who are responsible for planning and delivering these services fully understand the rural dimension.
	DEFRA also fully recognises the importance of service outlets, such as village shops, post offices and community pubs, as being at the heart of strong and sustainable rural communities and will continue to work with national Government, local authorities, business and civil society partners to support their retention wherever possible.
	There are already numerous examples of rural communities taking responsibility for providing these services for themselves, and my Department is keen to support and promote these Big Society approaches to addressing community needs.

Veterinary Services: Procurement

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with veterinary surgeons on her decision to put official veterinarian services out to tender; and whether she has made an estimate of the likely financial effect of the implementation of that decision on small rural veterinary practices.

James Paice: Animal Health (AH) has been engaged with the British Veterinary Association (BVA), the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) and other stakeholders to discuss proposals in developing a way forward and to consider how the concerns already raised can be mitigated or managed.
	While the scope of Official Veterinarian (OV) work is wide, the engagement of private practice OVs is most significant for the delivery of statutory testing for bovine TB. £21 million was paid to OV practices across Great Britain last year; 96% of which was in respect of TB testing of cattle.
	Relatively few practices have a large proportion of their income from TB testing. With 660 practices receiving payment for TB testing, only 15 (2%) receive more than £200,000 per year and 84.5% receive less than £50,000.
	To help ensure that existing small and medium-sized enterprises are not disadvantaged through a lack of commercial tendering experience, AH plans to provide a series of regional workshops at which the tendering process will be explained and guidance provided.

Water

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what timetable she has set for bringing forward legislative proposals in respect of her Department's White Paper on water.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA's structural reform plan currently commits us to publishing a Water White Paper in June 2011, and to put any legislative requirements in place by November 2012.
	We are currently reviewing this timetable in light of the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill, taking into account the need for a settled regulatory environment ahead of the next water industry price review.

Water

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has discussed with the Leader of the House the implications for the implementation of proposals in her Department's White Paper on water of the proposed extension of the current Parliamentary session to 2012.

Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State will be seeking any necessary discussions with the Leader of the House as part of our current consideration of the timetable for legislative requirements resulting from the Water White Paper, due for publication in June next year.

Wood

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place in the Library a copy of each item of correspondence between herself and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on illegal logging since her appointment.

James Paice: Information and correspondence relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees are generally not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

Wood: EU Law

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 9 September 2010,  Official Report, column 640W, on timber: EU law, if she will make it her policy to implement the provisions of the EU timber due diligence regulation within the next 12 months.

James Paice: Formal agreement has now been reached on the illegal timber (due diligence) regulation, and we will implement its provisions through a robust and proportionate enforcement regime. We must allow sufficient time to harmonise implementation as far as necessary at the European level to meet the goal of eliminating illegal timber from the EU market. The regulation sets the deadline for implementation at 27 months. Our priority is ensuring the effectiveness of the first-placing prohibition.

Wood: Imports

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2010,  Official Report, column 338W, on wood: EU action, whether she plans to take steps to prohibit shell companies importing illegal timber.

James Paice: The EU illegal timber (due diligence) regulation includes a prohibition on the first placing of illegal timber on the EU market. The use of a shell company to carry out the trade in illegal timber will therefore be prohibited under the regulation.

World War II: Medals

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of the Women's  (a) Land Army and  (b) Timber Corps Badge Scheme.

James Paice: holding answer 13 October 2010
	 The most recent estimate of expenditure on the scheme set up to acknowledge the efforts of the Women's Land Army and Women's Timber Corps (rounded to the nearest thousand) is £208,000.

TRANSPORT

Biofuels

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on biofuels.

Norman Baker: The UK is required to implement the renewable energy directive (RED) and fuel quality directive (FQD), both of which have an impact on biofuels policy.
	The RED requires the UK to source 10% of transport energy from renewable sources by 2020. Biofuels are expected to form the major contribution to this target, although electric vehicles and rail will also play a part.
	The transport sector also needs to comply with the FQD. This requires the UK to deliver a 6% reduction in greenhouse gas life cycle emissions from our fuels by 2020.
	The Government take the issue of biofuel sustainability seriously. The RED and FQD contain mandatory sustainability criteria for biofuels. These include that biofuels must deliver a GHG saving of at least 35%, and must not be sourced from areas of high biodiversity, or from high carbon soils (such as rain forests or wetlands).
	All biofuels will have to meet mandatory sustainability criteria in order to be counted towards meeting the targets in the RED and FQD, subject to certain exceptions.
	We will be consulting soon on proposals to implement the RED and FQD, including on how to ensure biofuels used in the UK meet mandatory sustainability criteria set out in the directives.
	The UK is also awaiting the European Commission's report on the impacts of biofuels on Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC), which is due to report by the end of the year.

Bus Services

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to encourage bus companies to increase the number of services they provide in rural and small town locations.

Norman Baker: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 14 October, given to my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith),  Official Report, column 409W.

Cable Theft

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to the Highways Agency of cable theft in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The Highways Agency does not hold data on cable theft. The agency employs a range of contractors to undertake maintenance and improvement works on the strategic road network. To obtain this information the agency would have to write to all of its service providers contracted over the last three years, which would incur disproportionate costs.

Electric Vehicles

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on the use of small one-person electric personal vehicles on public roads and cycle tracks.

Michael Penning: The Department for Transport expects to publish summary results of the electric personal vehicle public consultation and its response to the consultation on the Department for Transport website by the end of October.

Galileo System

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent progress has been made towards the full operational capability of the Galileo system; and what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the Government's contribution to the operation and maintenance of that system.

Theresa Villiers: Contracts were let by the European Commission earlier this year for three of the six work packages needed to complete the Galileo system. Surrey Satellite Technology secured work worth €236 million to build payloads for 14 satellites from this. The European Commission estimates that the remaining three contracts will be signed by early next year.
	The European Commission has not yet set out its proposal for the exploitation phase covering the operation, maintenance, marketing, improvement and renewal of the system from 2014 onwards. The Commission is required to undertake a feasibility study of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of contracts with private sector entities as part of this process since that may save some public funds. The Commission's proposal may be made with the programme's mid-term review which the Commission is legally required to undertake this year.
	Galileo is funded from the core EU budget to which all member states contribute. The UK's contribution to the EU budget from 2014 onwards will be decided during the forthcoming negotiations.

Highways Agency Staff: Injuries

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Highways Agency staff have been  (a) injured and  (b) killed while collecting litter from motorways and trunk roads in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The Highways Agency is responsible for picking litter on motorways and a small number of the all-purpose trunk roads.
	No Highways Agency staff are involved in picking litter; the work is carried out by the agency's contractors.
	The following information shows the number of contractors injured or killed over the last five years.
	
		
			  Number of HA contractors injured and killed while picking litter 
			   Injured  Killed 
			 2005 0 0 
			 2006 1 0 
			 2007 1 0 
			 2008 2 0 
			 2009 4 0 
			 2010 8 0

Humber Bridge: Debts

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport at how many points above the Bank of England base rate the Humber Bridge Board is paying the interest on its outstanding debt.

Norman Baker: Details of the current interest rate applied to the debt are detailed in the Humber Bridge (Debts) Order 2007 and the associated explanatory memorandum.

M5

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions  (a) he has had with the Highways Agency and  (b) the Highways Agency has had with local businesses on the siting of additional traffic lights on the roundabout at junction 9 of the M5; what assessment he has made of the potential benefit of the proposed traffic management scheme; what the cost to the public purse is of this scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The installation of traffic signals at the M5 junction 9 roundabout is part of a programme of safety enhancement schemes carried out by the Highways Agency in its capacity as an executive agency of the Department for Transport. As such, it did not require specific sanction by Ministers.
	In its regular review of accident data, the agency identified this location as an injury collision cluster site; that is where there are six or more injury collisions in a five-year period. In this case, there were 12 injury collisions in the most recent five-year period investigated. The scheme cost of £370,000 represents good value for money and is expected to save between five and six injury collisions within the next five years, as well as improving traffic flows through the junction.
	There were some difficulties with increased congestion due to other road works taking place nearby which had an impact on the junction 9 roundabout works. Discussions took place with the county council and also local business representatives of Shannon Way Industrial Estate, which resulted in additional signing and adjustments to the timing of nearby traffic signals being implemented.

Motor Vehicles: Registration

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2010,  Official Report, column 183W, on motor vehicles: registration, which organisation carried out the design work and production tests for the redesigned Registration Certificate V5C for vehicles in the UK.

Michael Penning: The design work and production tests for the redesigned registration certificate (V5C) was carried out by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in conjunction with its contracted print supplier Stralfors plc.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the MOT test system was last reviewed; what the outcome was of that review; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The Department for Transport published the then available evidence base relating to the MOT scheme in 2008. Copies were placed in the Libraries of the House and the document is on the Department's website at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/mot/mot/motscheme.pdf

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of the motor industry to discuss a review of the MOT test system.

Michael Penning: Ministers in the Department for Transport have had discussions with various representatives of the motor industry about a wide variety of subjects including the MOT test system.

Parking: Fees and Charges

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to prevent abuses by private companies and individuals of the system for issuing parking tickets.

Norman Baker: Since November 2009, it has been compulsory for every parking enforcement company to be a member of an accredited trade association in order to be eligible to receive the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) vehicle keeper data. This applies to companies issuing parking tickets and prevents the release of DVLA information to "rogue" parking companies.
	The coalition Government are working closely with industry to improve enforcement practices and the compliance of parking companies with the relevant codes of practice, and with the BPA to develop a non-statutory ombudsman-type complaint system for parking on private land.

Railways: Greater London

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what capital projects are scheduled to take place on railway lines in  (a) London,  (b) the London borough of Lambeth and  (c) Streatham constituency during (i) the remainder of control period 4 and (ii) control period 5.

Theresa Villiers: Details of Network Rail's investment plans for control period 4 are available within Network Rail's delivery plan documents published on their website. No details regarding control period 5 investments are available as Network Rail's regulatory settlement for that period will not be concluded until around 2013.
	Details of investment plans by train operators contained within the franchise agreements are available on the Department for Transport's public register.
	Transport for London will be providing additional railway investment via the East London Line extension phase 2 to Clapham Junction, planned to open in 2012.
	Details of the appropriate websites are:
	http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6648.aspx
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/publicregister/current/

Roads: Deaths

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) deaths and  (b) serious injuries have occurred on roads in Pendle constituency in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Reported fatalities and serious injuries in road accidents in Pendle constituency( 1) , 2005-2009 
			  Number 
			  Casualty severity  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Killed 1 0 1 2 9 
			 Seriously injured 57 45 56 40 34 
			 (1) Based on 2010 constituency boundary.

Roads: Noise

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Highways Agency spent from its budget for noise mitigation programmes in each year since 1999; and how much it spent on each programme in each such year.

Michael Penning: Low noise surfacing materials are used as a matter of course when major maintenance is required on the strategic road network. As the noise reduction results are a secondary benefit it would be inappropriate to assign costs from resurfacing to noise reduction alone.
	Generally, noise mitigation measures are included as part of the Highways Agency's improvement schemes, where warranted, as it is more cost-effective to do this work concurrently with other scheme works. The cost of these works is subsumed within the overall cost of the individual schemes. Therefore, the exact figure allocated to noise mitigation is difficult to extract without a disproportionate commitment of resource.
	However, in addition to the areas listed above, the agency does have an identifiable small programme of works specifically targeting noise mitigation measures in the most serious and pressing cases, where practical and cost-effective measures can be provided. These measures are applied to the entire strategic road network.
	Spend on this area, which represents only an element of noise mitigation measures, since 2004-05 is as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2004-05 4 
			 2005-06 5 
			 2006-07 3 
			 2007-08 4 
			 2008-09 3 
			 2009-10 6

Wind Power

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on methods to mitigate the effects of wind turbines on air traffic control systems.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport has not commissioned any research or evaluated the methods to mitigate the impact of wind farms on air traffic control systems.
	The independent Civil Aviation Authority regulates the operation of air traffic control systems in the UK and this includes the provision of impartial regulatory advice relating to proposed wind farm mitigation strategies on air traffic control systems.
	Before a wind farm can be built, all aviation-related objections must be lifted. Consequently, developers work closely with NATS, airports, the MOD and the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that suitable mitigations can be identified and implemented, thus enabling their developments to proceed.

WALES

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether she has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from her Department since May 2010; and what steps she plans to take to meet her Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10 per cent. by May 2011.

David Jones: The Wales Office comes under the umbrella of the Ministry of Justice, and contributes to that Ministry's sustainability framework and targets.

Housing Benefit: Wales

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions she has had with  (a) Ministerial colleagues and  (b) housing organisations on the effects on Wales of changes to the local housing allowance.

David Jones: The Secretary of State and I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a range of issues affecting Wales, including housing.
	This Government are committed to continuing to provide benefit support to those who need it in order to live in affordable accommodation while removing imbalances in the system.

Identity and Passport Service: Newport Gwent

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when she was informed of the proposal of the Identity and Passport Service to consult on the future of the Newport Passport Office.

Cheryl Gillan: I had a brief discussion with a Home Office Minister on 5 October who agreed to meet me the following week to further discuss issues relating to the Identity and Passport Service in Newport.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

David Kelly Death Inquiry

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Attorney-General on what dates  (a) he and  (b) officials of his Department have held meetings relating to the death of Dr David Kelly since his appointment; and who was present at each such meeting.

Dominic Grieve: I have routine meetings with the Lord Chancellor to discuss a range of issues; these have included matters relating to Dr David Kelly. AGO officials have had similar meetings with counterparts in the Ministry of Justice and the matter has been considered at meetings within my Department. It is not the Department's practice to provide details of such meetings.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Attorney-General how much the Law Officers' Departments have spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

Dominic Grieve: Only the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office have actually purchased any bottled water since 2008. Unfortunately it is not possible to determine the amount actually spent on bottled water without incurring a disproportionate cost.
	Some of the Law Officers' Department have provided staff with bottle-fed water dispensers during this period, the cost of which is outlined in the following tables. All of these contracts have since been discontinued.
	
		
			  Treasury Solicitor's Department 
			   £ 
			 January to December 2009 1,949 
			 January to December 2008 4,347 
		
	
	
		
			  Attorney-General's Office 
			   £ 
			 In financial year 2008-09 160 
			 In financial year 2009-10 134

Telephone Tapping

Tom Watson: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  whether Ministers and officials in his Department have had discussions with the Metropolitan Police Service on its investigation into telephone hacking and blagging since his appointment;
	(2)  if he will publish each item of correspondence  (a) sent and  (b) received by Ministers in his Department in respect of the Metropolitan Police Service's investigation into telephone hacking and blagging since his appointment.

Dominic Grieve: It would be inappropriate to comment on a matter that is currently being considered by the police.

PRIME MINISTER

Appointments Commission

David Blunkett: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 16 September 2010,  Official Report, column 1145W, on the Appointments Commission, in which circumstances appointments may be made by Departments other than in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the procedure adopted following the Nolan Inquiry; and if he will make a statement.

David Cameron: Appointments within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments are set out in the Public Appointments Order in Council 2002 (as amended). As has been the case under previous Administrations, appointments to posts outside the Commissioner's remit are made on merit and in line with the principles of the Commissioner's code of practice but are not formally bound by the requirements of the code.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Tom Watson: To ask the Prime Minister how many special advisers have  (a) been appointed to and  (b) left the employment of each Government Department since 10 June 2010.

David Cameron: An updated list of special advisers will be published quarterly.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 15 September 2010,  Official Report, column 1107W, on departmental ministerial policy advisers, what records of declarations of  (a) interests,  (b) gifts and  (c) hospitality made by special advisers based in No. 10 Downing Street his Department holds for the period before 13 May 2010.

David Cameron: These are the papers of a previous Administration. This Government are committed to publishing on a quarterly basis details of gifts and hospitality received by special advisers.

Government: Ministers

Tom Watson: To ask the Prime Minister what steps he is taking to reduce the number of Government Ministers; and if he will make a statement.

David Cameron: The size of the Government is kept under review.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Prime Minister when he plans to respond to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 30 July 2010, on Mr J. Wilkinson.

David Cameron: A reply has been sent.

National Security Council

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Prime Minister if he will  (a) publish the agendas and minutes of the National Security Council and  (b) bring forward proposals to designate that council as a public body under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

David Cameron: The National Security Council is a Cabinet Committee and thus part of central Government. Information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees is generally not disclosed as to do so would put at risk the public interest in both collective responsibility and the full and frank discussion of policy by Ministers. This is consistent with long-standing practice.

News International: News Corporation

Michael Dugher: To ask the Prime Minister whether he has met executives of News International Limited or News Corporation since his appointment.

Tom Watson: To ask the Prime Minister what meetings he has had with representatives of News International since his appointment; and if he will make a statement.

David Cameron: Information on official meetings by Ministers with external organisations will be published in accordance with the ministerial code.

Pope Benedict XVI

David Amess: To ask the Prime Minister what the outcomes were of his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI; and if he will make a statement. [R]

David Cameron: I refer my hon. Friend to the Joint Communiqué between HM Government and the Papal delegation published on Friday 17 September 2010. This is available on the Number 10 website
	http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/topstorynews/2010/09/joint-communique-between-hm-government-and-the-papal-delegation-55157
	I also refer my hon. Friend to the press notice issued by my Office on Monday 20 September 2010 which can be found at
	http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/09/pope-benedict-xvi-concludes-visit-to-uk-55193

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Burma: Refugees

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans his Department has to increase the level of funding provided to refugees from Burma who are in camps in Thailand.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has more than doubled its total support for Burmese refugees in Thailand since 2007-08. We have allocated £1.1 million to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) for 2011, the majority of which will be used to provide food and shelter for refugees in Thailand.
	In addition, we plan to provide around £650,000 to the International Rescue Committee to improve access to legal assistance for refugees in Thailand in 2010-11.
	The overall size of DFID's future programme in Burma will be decided on the basis of the bilateral aid review and the results of the comprehensive spending review.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) UK offices have filtered mains water supplies and have not purchased bottled water since 2008.
	DFID does not maintain a central record of expenditure on bottled water for our overseas offices. This information cannot be supplied without incurring disproportionate cost. All expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many officials his Department has appointed on fixed-term contracts since 7 May 2010.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has appointed one person on a fixed term contract since 7 May 2010. The period of the contract was from 13 May 2010 to 11 June 2010.

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid a salary.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not engaged any interns in the last 12 months.

Developing Countries: Co-operatives

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his policy is on  (a) providing support and building capacity for co-operatives in developing countries and  (b) enabling smallholders to form secondary co-operatives in such countries.

Stephen O'Brien: Co-operatives are key partners in the fight against poverty in many low income countries. The Department for International Development's (DFID's) Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH) provides funding to co-operatives which, for example, are helping smallholder Kenyan farmers in co-operatives to access a guaranteed market for the tea they produce. Co-operatives are also eligible to apply to the Department's Business Innovation Facility. In addition our new funding instruments for private sector development will be designed to be accessible to co-operatives.
	DFID does not have a specific policy on enabling smallholders to form secondary co-operatives. However we do recognise their importance as one way for smallholders to capture more of the value chain and increase their incomes. These are key objectives that we support through our funding for fair trade, private sector enterprise and civil society, a good example of which I have seen for myself in Rwanda as part of a DFID-funded Social Protection Programme.

Developing Countries: Disease Control

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding his Department provides for  (a) research into and  (b) projects countering (i) malaria, (ii) dengue fever, (iii) dysentery and (iv) yellow fever overseas.

Stephen O'Brien: In 2009, the Department for International Development (DFID) provided a total of £8 million for research into malaria and is finalising a new £5.5 million programme of research to address resistance to artemisinin drugs, currently the mainstay of malaria treatment. In 2009 DFID provided £4 million to the WHO Special Programme on Tropical Disease Research (TDR), which includes research into dengue, dysentery and yellow fever.
	In 2009, DFID provided £150 million to tackle malaria. At the recent UN Millennium Development summit, the UK made a substantial commitment to help reduce malaria deaths by at least 50% in at least 10 high-burden countries by 2015, backed up by an increase in funding to as much as £500 million per year by 2014. Individual amounts for programme spend are not available for dengue and yellow fever. To reduce diarrhoeal disease, such as dysentery, £87 million was spent in 2009, on water, sanitation and hygiene programmes.

Developing Countries: Family Planning

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 13 September 2010,  Official Report, column 1762W, on developing countries: family planning, what estimate he made of the cost to the public purse of providing the information requested; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) holds many files relating to the United Nations Population Fund, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International both within the UK and throughout DFID's overseas offices. Since 2005 files are held electronically in DFID's electronic data records management system. Files pre-dating 2005 are held in paper format both within the UK and in the relevant country offices. To provide information on all files would incur costs in excess of £800 in terms of staff hours spent collating this information, and is therefore deemed disproportionate.

Developing Countries: Maternity Services

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department has allocated to each country for  (a) reproductive health and  (b) abortion services in the last three years; and what assessment he has made of the effects on those services of his Department's expenditure.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development's (DFID's) expenditure in individual sectors, as recorded by its sector code system, were published on 7 October in 'Statistics on International Development'. The amount spent on reproductive health care is reproduced in the following table. Expenditure on abortion services is not captured under any single sector code and we are, therefore, unable to provide this information without incurring disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Financial year  Amount (£000) 
			 2007-08 18,621 
			 2008-09 36,466 
			 2009-10 43,196 
		
	
	Reproductive, maternal and child health is a major priority for the UK Government. DFID is currently developing a new business plan based on the best evidence available of what works, to increase dramatically our impact in addressing deaths and illness caused by poor reproductive, maternal and newborn health. This will include action to increase coverage of effective services and to reach those who might not usually have access to health services, including those suffering the consequences of unsafe abortion.
	We are currently reviewing all our development spending to maximise the effectiveness of the UK's development efforts.

International Assistance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he plans to take to encourage global efforts to provide funding to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals on health, women and children by 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to accelerate progress on women and children's health. The UK was one of the core partners in the development of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Global Strategy for Women and Children's Health, aimed at saving the lives of more than 16 million women and children. In recent months we have been working closely with the United Nations, the G8 and other partners to secure new financial and policy commitments in support of the global strategy which was launched at the recent Millennium Development Goals summit.
	The launch was accompanied by an unprecedented $40 billion in commitments for maternal and child health. The UK announced that it will save the lives of at least 50,000 women in pregnancy and childbirth, 250,000 newborn babies and enable 10 million couples to access modern methods of family planning over the next five years, backed by a doubling of financial support. We are working closely with others to develop a strong accountability framework to ensure outcomes are tracked and commitments delivered.

International Assistance: Environment Protection

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal on environmental sustainability.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) is playing an active role in supporting progress towards the Millennium Development Goal on environmental sustainability. In 2009-10 UK aid enabled around 5.1 million of the world's poorest people to gain access to clean water and 16.3 million to basic sanitation. Through the joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Poverty and Environment Initiative, DFID has supported 22 developing countries to integrate environmental sustainability into national planning processes. With DFID support, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has delivered over 750 projects in 155 countries to improve the management of biodiversity. We also provided support during the preparatory stages to the World Bank's partnership for the valuation of natural resource assets, which will enable six to 10 developing countries to incorporate the value of their natural assets into their national accounts to strengthen sustainable economic growth. In addition, DFID is strengthening its environmental screening procedures, and incorporating climate change assessments.

International Assistance: Fossil Fuels

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to seek to end World Bank assistance for fossil fuel extraction and transport projects.

Alan Duncan: The Secretary of State is currently reviewing the Department for International Development's (DFlD's) position regarding the energy lending of the multilateral development banks in the light of our commitment to poverty reduction and tackling climate change.
	I will write to the hon. Member when decisions have been made.

Pakistan: Floods

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what his most recent assessment is of the humanitarian situation in Pakistan following the recent floods;
	(2)  what steps his Department plans to take to assist recovery work following the recent floods in Pakistan.

Andrew Mitchell: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of 12 October 2010,  Official Report, column 12WS, which contains a detailed assessment of the humanitarian situation in Pakistan and explains UK support for the relief and early recovery work in response to the floods.

Pakistan: Overseas Aid

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of delivery of humanitarian aid in Pakistan.

Andrew Mitchell: We continue to work with the international community and Government of Pakistan to ensure an effective humanitarian operation.
	For further details I refer my hon. Friend to my written statement of 12 October 2010,  Official Report, column 12WS, which sets our assessment of the current humanitarian operation in Pakistan.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) monitors its carbon dioxide emissions on a regular basis and these are published on a yearly basis. Officials are working closely with the newly formed Efficiency and Reform Group to ensure my Department meets its target by May 2011.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) no longer purchases bottled water. The use of bottled water was phased out in NIO buildings in the period March 2008 to October 2008.
	Northern Ireland Office policy is that where staff have access to tap water which is of drinking water quality, they should not continue to be provided with bottled water.

Departmental Freedom of Information

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps his Department is taking to improve its level of compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has achieved compliance levels of 95%, with permitted extensions, for FOI requests received during the first two monitoring quarters of 2010.
	The importance of compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is regularly highlighted at Management Board meetings. The NIO continues to monitor its processes for information requests and works closely with the Information Commissioners Office to ensure that these high levels of compliance are maintained.

Intelligence Services

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of arrangements for  (a) intelligence gathering for security purposes in Northern Ireland and  (b) contacts between the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Security Service.

Owen Paterson: Lord Carlile, who carries out an independent assessment of the arrangements for handling national security in Northern Ireland, provided me with his second annual report earlier this year. Copies of his report were placed in the Libraries of the House on 15 September. In it, he comments that he is:
	"firmly of the view that the Security Service is as likely to gather information for the protection of the public as is possible using proper means, compatible with the principles of liberty applicable in a democratic society such as our own."
	He goes on to observe that:
	"the Service Level Agreements between the Security Service and the PSNI have been in operation for about two years and well tested. There has developed a good degree of partnership between the two organisations, different though they are in nature, history and purpose. ... There are many examples of advantages resulting from the new arrangements. They include greater interaction between the services, better handling and organisation of covert human intelligence resources, improved debriefing practices, and more effective use of equipment for intelligence gathering purposes. The Security Service and the PSNI continue to learn from each other."
	He concludes that:
	"The now established national security arrangements for Northern Ireland work more efficiently than analogous arrangements described to me elsewhere in the democratic world, and in a more acceptable human rights context than anywhere comparable. ... I am satisfied that the work of the Security Service now being carried out in Northern Ireland will continue to make a significant and increasing contribution to the national security of the whole of the UK."
	I was pleased to accept, and entirely agree with, Lord Carlile's report.

Public Expenditure

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  if he will guarantee the Government's undertaking to provide £18 billion to the Northern Ireland Executive for political institutions and infrastructure development and renewal; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with  (a) the Prime Minister and  (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the criteria to apply to the determination of the financial allocation for the Northern Ireland block grant in the comprehensive spending review.

Owen Paterson: These are matters that are under consideration as part of the spending review that is currently under way.
	As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Security Structure

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what date the security structure of Northern Ireland was last reviewed; whether any capital expenditure priorities were identified as a result; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: I meet regularly with the Chief Constable and my security advisors to discuss the security situation and security structure in Northern Ireland. It is for the Chief Constable and other budget holders within the security structure to identify capital expenditure priorities, in line with the demands of their organisations.

Terrorism

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of the security threat from paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: The threat level in Northern Ireland remains at severe, meaning terrorist attacks are highly likely. So far this year there have been 37 attacks. To date in 2010 there have been 180 arrests and 64 persons charged with terrorist offences. This compares to 106 arrests and 17 charges in the whole of 2009. While these terrorists pose a serious challenge, the security forces have the manpower, resources and ability to meet the threat.

Welfare State: Reform

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions  (a) he and  (b) his ministerial colleagues have had with the Northern Ireland Executive on (i) proposed changes to the benefit and welfare system and (ii) the level of employment in Northern Ireland.

Owen Paterson: Responsibility for these matters is largely devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, but Executive Ministers do discuss matters of mutual interest with my ministerial colleagues and me. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions recently met with the Northern Ireland Minister for Employment and Learning and the Minister for Social Development to discuss welfare reform.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Work Experience

Mary Macleod: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what opportunities his Department provides for jobseekers to undertake work experience.

Chris Grayling: Work experience of two to 13 weeks is currently available to qualifying 18 to 24-year-old non-graduate jobseekers. Graduates are encouraged to apply for internships through the graduate talent pool. Work experience is also made available for customers of all ages who are in non-flexible new deal areas through the appropriate new deal option.

Child Poverty

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on levels of child poverty of the proposed £26,000 benefit cap.

Maria Miller: A full impact assessment will be published alongside the forthcoming Welfare Reform White Paper.
	This Government are committed to tackling child poverty and will set out more detail in our Child Poverty Strategy which will be published before the end of March 2011.
	The cap will take into account the average earnings of working families-which we estimate will be around £26,000 per year, £500 per week, when the cap comes into effect. This equates to a salary of £35,000 (for a single worker) before income tax and national insurance.

Employment Assistance

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with third sector organisations on their role in helping people back to work.

Chris Grayling: DWP continues to engage and acknowledge the vital role the third sector plays in helping people back to work and informing policy.
	During the summer we held consultation events across GB to engage voluntary and community sector organisations in our plans for the Work Programme and welfare reform more generally. We also supported events with the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA).
	We also have regular meetings with the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) and regionally with the Community and Voluntary Forum East of England (COVER) and the next meeting is 18 October when JCP will be outlining the options and opportunities within the Get Britain Working programme.

Work Capability Assessment

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality and accuracy of the work capability assessment.

Chris Grayling: We believe that the work capability assessment is effective at identifying a person's functional capability for work and work-related activity and very much more so than its predecessor the personal capability Assessment.
	In March this year the Department led a review which engaged closely with experts and specialist disability charities. We are now implementing the recommendations of this review, which will improve the fairness and accuracy of the work capability assessment.
	We are committed to continuing this process of review and improvement and to ensure that it is as robust as possible, particularly ahead of the reassessment of existing incapacity benefits cases commencing in April next year. As you may be aware we are required by statute to undertake an independent review annually for the first five years following introduction of employment and support allowance. We recently announced that the first review is being led by Professor Malcolm Harrington. We are also pleased that Paul Farmer, CEO of Mind, is sitting on the review's scrutiny group, which will provide advice and challenge to the lead reviewer.
	We expect to receive Professor Harrington's report later in the year and will then carefully consider any recommendations he makes.

Compulsory Retirement Age

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations he has received on the Government's proposals to abolish the compulsory retirement age.

Steve Webb: We are currently consulting on our proposals to phase out the default retirement age. The consultation closes on 21 October and the Government intend to publish their response in autumn 2010.
	We have already received several hundred responses from individuals, employers and stakeholder groups.

Pensions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the average change in payments to pensioners as a result of restoring the link between the level of state pension and average earnings.

Steve Webb: On top of restoring the earnings link the triple guarantee will ensure that the basic state pension will be increased each year by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5%.
	This will mean that the average person reaching state pension age in 2011 can expect to receive an additional £15,000 in basic state pension over their retirement.

Disabled People: Employment

Sam Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of disabled people who are in employment.

Maria Miller: For people of working age, the employment rate for disabled people is currently 48.4%. This compares with the overall working age employment rate of 72.2%, a gap of almost 24 percentage points.
	The coalition Government are committed to reducing this gap.
	Work Choice, our specialist programme for disabled people, will begin on 25 October 2010.
	We stated in the Coalition Agreement that we will reform Access to Work, the programme which funds adjustments to help people enter and remain in work, so disabled people can apply for jobs with funding already secured for any adaptations and equipment they will need. We are currently considering how to do this and an announcement will be made in due course.

Cold Weather Payments

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in the Warrington weather station areas received cold weather payments in the financial year 2009-10.

Steve Webb: In 2009-10, postcodes in Warrington were linked to either Crosby or Woodford weather stations. The available information is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Estimated number of benefit units that received cold weather payments in 2009-10 
			   Number 
			 Crosby weather station 278,900 
			 Woodford weather station 212,000 
			  Notes: 1. The figures are for each weather station as a whole, not for the part of Warrington linked to the weather station. 2. Figures are estimates only, as actual data are not available. 3. Cold weather payments are made to benefit units rather than to households. A benefit unit can be a single person or a couple and can include children. 4. Eligible benefit units in Warrington received more than one cold weather payment in 2009-10. 5. Each of the weather stations listed also covers an area that is not part of Warrington. 6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.  Sources: 1. Scans of benefit computer systems taken at the end of October 2009 giving the number of potential qualifiers for cold weather payments by weather station. 2. Department for Work and Pensions records of triggers. 3. Department for Work and Pensions records of the total number of payments actually made by benefit computer system and clerically.

Departmental Billing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost to his Department was of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of invoices settled in that period his Department paid  (a) electronically and  (b) by cheque.

Chris Grayling: The average cost of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period (August) for which figures are available is:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Electronic 1.60 
			 Manual 3.41 
		
	
	These costs include all controllable costs and shared services and DWP overheads eg accommodation and IT.
	During this period 99.33% of invoices were settled electronically and 0.67% settled by cheque.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011.

Chris Grayling: The following table gives details of the consumption and associated carbon emissions for DWP reported since May this year. A total is given for the first quarter (April to June), as monthly reporting only commenced in July; thereafter monthly data are provided. A quarterly reconciliation is undertaken to correct and resolve any monthly estimates using metered data. Carbon performance continues to be regularly scrutinised by senior management as part of routine governance arrangements.
	
		
			   kWh  
			   Electricit y  Gas  Oil  Carbon (Tonnes) 
			 April to June  Q1 total 57,205,762 39,943,002 1,081,483 38,553 
			  
			 July 19,237,683 5,238,563 242,410 11,430 
			 August 18,917,170 4,264,976 635,375 11,177 
			 September 18,798,889 7,614,129 534,714 11,703 
			 Quarter  2 total 56,953,742 17,117,668 1,412,499 34,310 
		
	
	The Department has put in place a comprehensive range of measures to address carbon emissions from the estate. To generate engagement throughout the management structure we have used the improved data resulting from our installation of "smart meters" to set specific reduction targets for all the Department's businesses. They in turn ensure these are cascaded to site level where Energy Champions are in place to lead local action. A tailored pack of information is available for use at site level to promote energy efficiency and carbon reduction.
	Technical solutions, such as improved lighting controls, resulting from individual site audits are being delivered by our estate partner Telereal Trillium. A combined heat and power (CHP) plant is being installed in Quarry house in Leeds, which is estimated to deliver both carbon and financial savings (428 tonnes CO2 and £93,000 p.a. respectively). Additional CHP opportunities are being assessed. We are also working with the Carbon Trust to identify funding schemes for further low-carbon energy generation initiatives such as solar, wind and biomass.
	We launched our AWaRE (Avoid Waste and Reduce Energy) campaign formally at the beginning of June. Working in conjunction with Telereal Trillium, this actively promotes to all staff the part they can play in meeting the 10% challenge. Information has been made available and is continually promoted to encourage staff to adopt energy efficient practices (such as using the 'off' switch). In addition, the Department's executive team have agreed a further package of measures designed to generate further savings, such as:
	Challenging the need for unnecessary equipment and removing it where need is not proven.
	Ensuring buildings are not heated outside normal occupancy hours.
	Ensuring that where buildings are used outside normal office hours, staff are brigaded together where operationally and logistically possible, so that additional heating and lighting are used most efficiently.
	Disabling cooling in buildings between November and April unless there is a proven need, at the same time as restricting access to heating and cooling controls.
	Site Energy Champions reporting direct to building senior responsible officers.
	Including environmental issues formally within the remit of local health and safety committees.

Departmental Manpower

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff the  (a) Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission,  (b) Pensions Protection Fund,  (c) Health and Safety Executive,  (d) Pensions Ombudsman and  (e) Jobcentre Plus employed on the latest date for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The number of full-time equivalent staff employed by  (a) Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission,  (b) Pensions Protection Fund,  (c) Health and Safety Executive,  (d) Pensions Ombudsman and  (e) Jobcentre Plus as at 30 June 2010 is set out as follows:
	
		
			  Business area  Number 
			 Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission 8,330 
			 Pensions Protection Fund 293 
			 Health and Safety Executive 3,587 
			 Pensions Ombudsman 35 
			 Jobcentre Plus 80,191 
			  Note: Staff working for the Pensions Protection Fund and the Pensions Ombudsman are not civil servants.

Departmental Manpower

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employees of his Department  (a) at each grade and  (b) in each directorate are employed at its Norcross site.

Chris Grayling: The number of staff, in each grade and agency/business directorate, employed at the Norcross site is shown in the following table. The latest available data are at 30 June 2010.
	
		
			   Agency/business directorate 
			  Grade  Jobcentre Plus  Pensions, Disability and Carers Service  Corporate and Shared Services  DWP total 
			 A/AA - 11 20 31 
			 B/AO - 56 225 281 
			 C/EO 1 155 283 439 
			 D/HEO - 90 273 363 
			 E/SEO - 36 173 209 
			 F/G7 - 13 89 102 
			 G/G6 1 3 41 45 
			 SCS 0 2 8 10 
			 Grand total 2 366 1,112 1,480

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid a salary.

Chris Grayling: DWP has not engaged either unpaid internships, or unpaid interns receiving expenses only in the last 12 months (according to the best information available).
	The Department has employed a total of 110 interns on salary equivalent above the national minimum wage. This number is made up of several managed programmes consisting of summer placements or professional routeways managed at civil service level, short-term internships and the graduate internship programme as part of Backing Young Britain.

Disability Living Allowance

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has assessed the merits of bringing forward proposals for a means test for disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: Commitments were made in the Emergency Budget to reform DLA, which is a universal benefit. We will introduce an objective assessment from 2013 to ensure that it supports those with the greatest need on a consistent and transparent basis.

Disability Living Allowance

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with which representative organisations his Department has had discussions on its proposed reforms to disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: We have held initial discussions on proposed reforms with disabled people and a broad range of representative organisations including representatives of Equality 2025, Radar and the Disability Benefits Consortium.
	In developing the new assessment announced by the Chancellor in the Emergency Budget, we are working with an independent group of specialists in the fields of health and disability and representatives of the disabled people.
	We will have ongoing discussions to ensure that our reforms will assess more accurately and consistently who would benefit most from additional support, while continuing to tackle the inequalities that can arise from severe disability.

Disability Living Allowance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answers to the hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd of 16 September 2010,  Official Report, column 1154W, on social security benefits: welfare examinations, whether his Department provided the figures given in the June 2010 Budget Red Book for the projected savings from the new assessment to be introduced for all disability living allowance claimants from 2013-14; and what account the present process of developing options for the new assessment is taking of such projected savings.

Maria Miller: The projected savings from a new assessment for disability living allowance are based on DWP forecasts of working age disability living allowance benefit expenditure. The methodology to estimate the savings was agreed by DWP and HMT officials and was subject to scrutiny by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The methodology for estimating the savings is set out in the Budget 2010 policy costings document(1).
	The new assessment, which we are developing with the help of specialists in the fields of health and disability and representatives of disabled people, is being designed to assess more accurately, objectively and consistently those disabled people who would benefit from support to reduce the barrier they face to participating in society as a result of their disability. One factor being considered in developing options for the new assessment is the need for reform of disability living allowance to deliver savings of 20% of working age expenditure.
	(1) http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/junebudget_costings.htm

Employment Schemes

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that skills identified by local enterprise partnerships are reflected in the development of the single Work Programme.

Chris Grayling: The precise Work Programme design is still in the process of being finalised. However, we are committed to working directly with local enterprise partnerships with an interest in worklessness to discuss ideas around the Work Programme and explore how we can work most effectively together.
	Our framework for commissioning the Work Programme sets out clearly our commitment to engaging with local partners. We are actively encouraging potential Work Programme providers to work with local partners, including local enterprise partnerships, to understand local labour market and skills needs. That detailed knowledge of local needs will ensure the Work Programme offers the best mix of personalised support to help people back to work.

Employment Schemes

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills the mechanism whereby his Department's single Work Programme can contribute to the objectives of local enterprise partnerships.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus will be embarking upon a series of meetings with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the Department for Communities and Local Government and others to evaluate the specific requests made of Departments within the local enterprise partnerships proposals.
	Government will publish shortly a White Paper on our approach to sub-national economic development. This will set out further detail of local enterprise partnerships policy.

Future Jobs Fund: East Ayrshire

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of East Ayrshire aged  (a) between 18 and 24 years and  (b) over 24 years who had been out of work and claiming jobseeker's allowance for more than six months have found employment through the future jobs fund since the Fund was established.

Chris Grayling: The Young Person's Guarantee statistics were published on 13 October 2010 and are available here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=ypg
	Statistics are available on the future jobs fund which cover the period from October 2009 to July 2010. They show that 5,870 people were placed in temporary roles via the future jobs fund in Scotland. The information requested for East Ayrshire is not available.

Incapacity Benefit

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the transitional protection given to former invalidity benefit claimants when incapacity benefit arrangements were changed will be applied when incapacity benefit is migrated to employment and support allowance.

Chris Grayling: When invalidity benefit customers had their benefit changed to incapacity benefit in 1995, they received transitional protection that meant they had their existing level of benefit protected. Their awards then continued to be uprated in line with the arrangements for incapacity benefit. This meant that their benefit maintained its value but that they continued to be paid incapacity benefit at a higher rate than many new claimants to incapacity benefit. This remains the case.
	These transitional arrangements will not continue on conversion to employment and support allowance. However, new transitional arrangements will be put in place.
	When a customer moves from any of the old-style incapacity benefits to employment and support allowance, the cash level of their benefit will be protected. However, it will not continue to be uprated beyond the protected level. If the employment and support allowance rate they are entitled to is less than the amount they received on their old benefit, they will receive a transitional addition to make up the difference. The amount of benefit they receive will then not rise with annual uprating, but will be frozen until the rate of employment and support allowance catches up. Over time, all recipients of employment and support allowance will therefore receive comparable awards, dependent on capability.

Incapacity Benefit: Aberdeen

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of  (a) Aberdeen South constituency and  (b) Aberdeen city have been on incapacity benefit since before April 1995.

Chris Grayling: The information is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA) claimants in Aberdeen local authority and Aberdeen South parliamentary constituency, by duration, as of February 2010 
			   All durations  Claimants on IB/SDA since April 1995 or earlier 
			 Aberdeen local authority 8,570 1,740 
			 Aberdeen South parliamentary constituency 2,860 620 
			  Notes: 1. Case load has been rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Data do not include claimants of employment and support allowances (ESA). 3. Durations refer to IB/SDA awards. 4. Parliamentary constituency at May 2010.  Source: DWP Information Directorate 100% WPLS. 
		
	
	As there is no parliamentary constituency for Aberdeen city, we have provided figures for the number of people in the Aberdeen local authority area in receipt of incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the industrial injuries disablement benefit will be included in the proposed cap on total household benefits.

Maria Miller: We expect the benefit cap to apply to the combined income from all main out-of-work benefits. However, we will exempt all households with someone entitled to disability living allowance, which will include many of those receiving industrial injuries disablement benefit.

Jobcentre Plus: Gloucester

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the transport and associated costs were of processing paperwork from the Jobcentre Plus centre in Gloucester at the Jobcentre Plus Benefit Delivery Centre in St Austell, Cornwall in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Darra Singh:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what the transport and associated costs were of processing paperwork from the Jobcentre Plus centre in Gloucester at the Jobcentre Plus Benefit Delivery Centre in St Austall, Cornwall in each of the last five years.
	Prior to January 2010 there was a mixture of centrally and locally purchased couriers and Jobcentre Plus's own fleet of delivery vehicles.
	Since January 2010 the transport of benefit processing paperwork between Gloucester Jobcentre (at Cedar House, Spa Road, Gloucester) and St Austell Benefit Delivery Centre (at Treleaven House, South Street, St Austell), has been carried as part of the Cross Government Courier (CGC) Contract with TNT. This contract provides a range of courier services to the Department for Work and Pensions and to HM Revenue and Customs.
	Costs related to the current CGC contract, and prior arrangements for courier services made over the past five years, are generally charged centrally within the Department of Work and Pensions, and are unfortunately not sufficiently detailed to show the movement of documents between these sites.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Fraud

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were prosecuted for fraudulent claims for jobseeker's allowance in each of the last three years; and how many of those had addresses in Dartford constituency.

Chris Grayling: Information on the number of people in England and Wales prosecuted for benefit fraud in each of the last years is as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2007-08 9,538 
			 2008-09 8,701 
			 2009-10 7,709 
		
	
	The number of prosecutions arising from fraudulent claims for jobseeker's allowance is not available.
	The reduction in prosecution levels over the last three years arises from changes to DWP's sanctions regime. More low-value, first-time, admitted frauds are now dealt with by way of a caution or administrative penalty, allowing resources to be re-directed to higher-value, complex and more serious cases.
	Information on the number of people prosecuted for benefit fraud with addresses in Dartford constituency is not available.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Lone Parents

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many lone parents are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East constituency.

Chris Grayling: In July 2010 there were 120 lone parents claiming jobseeker's allowance in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East.
	The figure has been rounded to the nearest five.

Occupational Pensions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for automatic enrolment into workplace pensions in 2012.

Steve Webb: The Government remain committed to introducing automatic enrolment to bring about a step change in our savings culture.
	We have now received the recommendations of our independent review into how best to support the implementation of automatic enrolment, and will make a statement on our plans shortly.

Pension Funds: Trusts

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that pension fund trustees and their agents are required to  (a) design and  (b) follow a strategy to discharge the duties of ownership of their funds and promote their good governance.

Steve Webb: The law already requires that an occupational pension scheme's "Statement of Investment Principles" must include a declaration of the extent to which social, environmental and ethical considerations are taken into account in the scheme's investments. The statement must also include the scheme's policy (if any) in relation to the exercise of the rights (including voting rights) attaching to the investments. We have no current plans to introduce additional prescriptive legislative requirements on pension funds.

Social Security Benefits

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of households which will be affected by the planned cap on total benefit payments  (a) nationally,  (b) in London,  (c) in Lambeth borough and (d) in Streatham constituency.

Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available.
	The Chancellor's announcement about the benefit cap was informed by high-level consideration of the broad impacts. We are now working up the more detailed design of the cap as part of the spending review. When we introduce legislation for the implementation of the caps, we shall publish a full impact assessment.

Social Security Benefits: Dartford

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in Dartford constituency include one or more  (a) disability living allowance and  (b) jobseeker's allowance claimants.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not available by household. The number of claimants of jobseeker's allowance and disability living allowance (in payment) in Dartford constituency is in the following table
	
		
			   Caseload 
			 Jobseeker's allowance 1,891 
			 Disability living allowance 3,890 
			  Notes: 1. Caseload data for disability living allowance are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Figures on disability living allowance are available in the House of Commons Library. 3. Jobseeker's allowance data are published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk Disability living allowance data are published at: http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html 4. JSA figures are unrounded as this is the approved convention followed by ONS for this particular data source. 5. Parliamentary constituency of claimant (Westminster) is for the Westminster Parliament of May 2010. 6. For jobseeker's allowance, the latest data currently available are September 2010. For disability living allowance, the latest data currently available are February 2010.  Source: Jobseeker's allowance: Count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems (including clerically held cases). Disability living allowance: DWP Information Directorate 100% WPLS

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-UK residents have been prosecuted for fraudulent benefit claims in each of the last three years.

Chris Grayling: Information on the number of non-UK residents prosecuted for fraudulent benefit claims in each of the last three years is not available. At the time a summons (also known as a requisition) is issued each person would have an address in England or Wales.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether there is provision for disability benefit claimants to have medical examinations undertaken by Welsh speakers.

Chris Grayling: There is provision to provide a Welsh language service for those claimants who are resident in Wales for correspondence, telephone and face-to-face communications as well as published and printed materials.

State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the effect on private sector pension liabilities of the planned change in uprating from the consumer prices index to the retail prices index.

Steve Webb: The consumer prices index (CPI) will be used to determine the minimum amounts for indexation and revaluation of private sector pension schemes going forward. The impact will vary depending on how individual schemes respond to changes to the minimum amounts, and that will be a matter for them to decide within the terms of their scheme rules. The Government expect to consult shortly on whether or not to make provision for schemes that find it difficult to change their rules.

State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the financial effect on a pensioner of average income of the restoration of a link between pensions and earnings.

Steve Webb: On top of restoring the earnings link the triple guarantee will ensure that the basic state pension will be increased each year by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5%.
	This will mean that the average person reaching state pension age in 2011 can expect to receive an additional £15,000 in basic state pension over their retirement.

Vocational Training

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what account his Department takes of  (a) geographical and  (b) individual circumstances in determining the criteria for the employment training grants it funds.

Chris Grayling: The question refers to "employment training grants" which is not a term used for any training provision offered by the Department.
	The Skills Funding Agency, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, funds skills training throughout England delivered by colleges of further education and other training organisations. Eligibility generally depends upon the type of benefit in payment and on the length of time the benefit has been in payment. Skills and training in Scotland and Wales are the responsibility of the devolved Administrations, working in partnership with Jobcentre Plus.
	The new Work Programme will radically simplify the array of existing employment programmes to deliver coherent, integrated support more capable of dealing with complex and overlapping barriers to work.

Voluntary Work: Industrial Health and Safety

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure health and safety regulations do not have unintended consequences which deter individuals from participating in voluntary groups; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Government do not want health and safety law to be seen as a barrier to the volunteering that is so important to the Big Society. The Prime Minister asked Lord Young to review the operation of health and safety laws and the growth of the compensation culture. His report was published on Friday 15 October and includes recommendations to this end.
	We are also looking forward to receiving recommendations from the taskforce being chaired by Lord Hodgson that is looking at easing burdens on the voluntary sector.

Welfare State: Reform

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what benefit schemes he plans to  (a) end and  (b) retain under his proposed changes to the benefits and welfare system.

Chris Grayling: Full details of the changes to the working age benefits system will be set out in the spending review on 20 October and a Welfare Reform White Paper to be published in the next few weeks.

Welfare State: Reform

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the implementation of his proposals to change the welfare and benefit system; and from what budgets that cost will be met.

Chris Grayling: Full details of the costs of implementing the universal credit will be set out in the spending review on 20 October and the Welfare Reform White Paper that will be published in the next few weeks.

Welfare to Work: Glasgow

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which contractors provide services under the welfare to work programme in the Glasgow city council area; and what services are provided in each case.

Chris Grayling: The following table lists the providers who are delivering welfare to work programmes in Glasgow, and the programme type. Other organisations may deliver employment services on an ad hoc basis.
	
		
			  Provider name  Programme type 
			 A4e New Deal for Disabled People 
			 Capability Scotland Work Preparation and Workstep 
			 Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar Workstep 
			 Craigowl Communities Work Preparation 
			 Enable Services Workstep 
			 Erskine Hospital Workshops Workstep 
			 Fife Employability Team Workstep 
			 Glasgow City Council Workstep 
			 Glasgow Mentoring Network New Deal 
			 Glasgow North Limited New Deal 
			 Haven Products Workstep 
			 Helm Training Workstep 
			 Highland Blindcraft Workstep Consortium Workstep 
			 Management Introductions New Deal 
			 Momentum Work Preparation and Workstep 
			 Moray Council Workstep 
			 North Lanarkshire Council Workstep 
			 One Plus One Plus: SVQ level 3 Childcare 
			 Prospects Work Preparation 
			 Reed in Partnership Limited Backing Young Britain, Jobcentre Plus Support Contracts and Employment Zones 
			 RNIB Scotland Work Preparation and Residential Work Preparation 
			 Scottish Association for Mental Health Workstep 
			 Scottish Cultural Enterprise Limited New Deal 
			 Sencia New Deal for Disabled People 
			 Shaw Trust New Deal for Disabled People and Workstep 
			 South Lanarkshire Council Workstep 
			 Stirling Council Workstep 
			 The Highland Council Workstep 
			 The Wise Group Employment Zones, New Deal, Workstep and In Work Support 
			 Volunteer Development Scotland Volunteering provision 
			 Work Fit Technical and Ergonomic Assessments 
			 Working Links (Employment) Ltd Employment Zones

Winter Fuel Payments

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the average percentage of pensioners' energy bills which will be met by the winter fuel allowance in  (a) the UK,  (b) Wales and  (c) Islwyn constituency in 2010-11.

Steve Webb: It is estimated that the average percentage of pensioner households' energy bills likely to be met by the winter fuel payment in 2010-11 in  (a) the UK and  (b) Wales, are as follows:
	
		
			   UK  Wales 
			   Aged up to 79  Age 80 and over  Aged up to 79  Age 80 and over 
			 Winter fuel payment amounts (£) 250 400 250 400 
			 Percentage of annual energy bill met by the winter fuel payment 26 46 24 42 
		
	
	 (c) The information requested is not available.
	Additional support is available through cold weather payments for regions that suffer particularly cold weather.
	 Notes:
	1. The Family Spending Survey 2009 is used to determine household expenditure on fuel by age.
	2. The difference in energy bills in Wales and the UK is calculated by looking at the percentage difference an average household spent on energy bills in 2008.
	3. The fuel and light inflation rate, published by the ONS, is used to estimate the energy bills as at September 2010.
	4. The winter fuel payment figures include the additional payments for 2010-11.

Work Capability Assessment: Per Capita Costs

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the average cost to the public purse of the participation of one claimant in the work capability assessment process.

Chris Grayling: The information required to provide an estimate of the average cost to the public purse of the participation of one claimant in the work capability assessment process is not available.
	The introduction of employment and support allowance in October 2008 was accompanied by the new work capability assessment. These assessments are delivered as part of the medical services provided by the Department for Work and Pensions' contractor, ATOS Healthcare. Jobcentre Plus, part of the Department for Work and Pensions, is responsible for referring both incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance claimants to ATOS for medical testing.
	Information regarding the ATOS costs of individual work capability assessments is commercially sensitive. However, the total cost of the services provided by ATOS Healthcare to the Department for Work and Pensions for all benefit streams covered under the medical services contract amounts to approximately £100 million per annum.
	For Jobcentre Plus the annual direct staff administration cost relating to all medical testing for 2009-10, the latest complete financial year, was approximately £10 million.
	Jobcentre Plus systems do not currently capture volume data specific to work capability assessments; therefore it is not possible to estimate the average administration cost of one claimant in this process.

State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the likely change in pension payments in  (a) cash terms in each financial year from 2011-12 to 2016-17 and  (b) 2010-11 prices over the course of retirement for a public sector pensioner aged 60 with a public sector pension of (i) £2,500, (ii) £5,000, (iii) £10,000 and (iv) £20,000 as a result of the proposed move to the consumer prices index for the indexation of public sector pensions.

Danny Alexander: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government have not estimated the effect of indexing based on the consumer prices index (CPI) instead of the retail price index (RPI) over the course of retirement for specific groups in the public service pension schemes. However, the overall estimated savings in annually managed expenditure for public service pension expenditure were made available in answers to the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs McGuire) on 27 July 2010,  Official Report, column 991W.
	The table shows the likely change in cash terms for each financial year from 2011-12 to 2016-17 for public service pensioners as requested. It is based on the OBR forecasts for CPI and RPI to 2016-17.
	
		
			   2011-12  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15  2015-16  2016-17 
			 RPI (%) 4.2 3.4 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.5 
			 CPI (%) 2.8 2.6 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.0 
			
			  £2,500   
			 RPI (£) 2,605 2,694 2,774 2,863 2,961 3,064 
			 CPI (£) 2,570 2,673 2,745 2,830 2,920 3,020 
			
			  £5,000   
			 RPI (£) 5,210 5,387 5,549 5,726 5,921 6,128 
			 CPI (£) 5,140 5,345 5,489 5,660 5,841 6,039 
			
			  £10,000   
			 RPI (£) 10,420 10,774 11,098 11,453 11,842 12,256 
			 CPI (£) 10,280 10,691 10,979 11,319 11,682 12,079 
			
			  £20,000   
			 RPI (£) 20,840 21,549 22,195 22,905 23,684 24,513 
			 CPI (£) 20,560 21,382 21,958 22,639 23,363 24,158 
		
	
	Individual public service pension schemes are the responsibility of the relevant administering Departments and in the case of the civil service pension scheme this would be the Cabinet Office.

EDUCATION

Academies: Dartford

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many expressions of interest in academy status his Department has received from schools in the Dartford constituency.

Nick Gibb: As of 11 October 2010, the Department has received registrations from five schools in the Dartford constituency expressing an interest in converting to academy status. Of these, Dartford grammar school is the only school judged as outstanding by Ofsted. The school submitted an application to convert in June 2010 and an academy order was issued on 10 August 2010. It aims to convert on 1 December 2010.

Curriculum

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Colchester of 7 June 2010,  Official Report, column 42W, what definition of a broad and balanced curriculum he uses.

Nick Gibb: Maintained schools are required by section 78 of the Education Act 2002 to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Academies are required to satisfy this requirement via their funding agreement.

Departmental PFI

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the revenue cost of each project sponsored by his Department under the private finance initiative over the lifetime of the project.

Nick Gibb: The estimated revenue funding of each project with a signed private finance initiative contract sponsored by the Department is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries. The total funding is for the length of the concession, which is typically 25-30 years. With the exception of the grants paid to the 11 voluntary aided schools projects at the bottom of the table, grants are paid to local authorities by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	On 5 July, the Department announced that BSF projects that have reached financial close will continue, together with repeat projects which have outline business case approval prior to 1 January. All projects that have not reached close of dialogue will stop with immediate effect. On 6 August, the Department announced that all sample schools would also go ahead.

Departmental Regulation

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which of his Department's regulations are under review; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: In order to make a real impact on reducing bureaucratic burdens on the front line we are reviewing all of the duties, regulations and statutory guidance that schools, colleges and local authorities have to follow in relation to education and children's services.

Education Maintenance Allowance

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his most recent assessment is of the effectiveness of the education maintenance allowance in widening access to further education.

Nick Gibb: The most recent evidence of the effectiveness of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) in widening access to further education was the research report on "Barriers to Participation in Education and Training" which was published on the Department's website on 24 June 2010. The report can be found at
	http://www.education.gov.uk/research
	The research, which was commissioned by the previous Administration, surveyed a large number of young people. The survey included questions about EMA. A key finding was that only 12% of young people overall receiving an EMA believe that they would not have participated in the courses they are doing if they had not received an EMA.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether students in receipt of education maintenance allowance who are commencing two-year courses in September 2010 will receive the allowance for the duration of the course.

Nick Gibb: Where eligible young people aged 16-19 in England fulfil the conditions required to receive education maintenance allowance (EMA), it will be paid in full in the 2010-11 academic year. Future spending decisions are subject to the spending review, which will conclude later this autumn.

Foreign Language

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many foreign language A-levels were sat in  (a) England,  (b) Sussex,  (c) Hove constituency and  (d) Brighton and Hove in each year from 2002 to 2009;
	(2)  how many foreign language AS levels were sat in  (a) England,  (b) Sussex,  (c) Hove constituency and  (d) Brighton and Hove in each year from 2002 to 2009;
	(3)  how many foreign language GCSEs were sat in  (a) England,  (b) Sussex,  (c) Hove constituency and  (d) Brighton and Hove in each year from 2002 to 2009.

Nick Gibb: The information available is given in the following tables:
	
		
			  Number students( 1 ) entered for foreign language A-levels from 2002-09 
			   England  Sussex  Hove constituency  Brighton and Hove 
			 2002 28,256 1,093 111 274 
			 2003 27,475 1,127 117 324 
			 2004 27,052 1,023 97 256 
			 2005 26,665 945 122 277 
			 2006 28,010 993 99 265 
			 2007 28,377 1,018 104 241 
			 2008 29,423 1,052 125 262 
			 2009 29,529 1,064 120 259 
			 (1). Figures represent number of entries, so if a student had entered two foreign languages, they would be represented twice.  Source:  Achievement and Attainment tables. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number students( 1)  entered for foreign language AS-levels from 2002-09 
			   England  Sussex  Hove constituency  Brighton and Hove 
			 2002 34,196 1,246 161 313 
			 2003 32,878 1,259 128 350 
			 2004 31,187 1,055 138 272 
			 2005 31,557 1,027 147 290 
			 2006 31,757 1,099 144 276 
			 2007 32,645 1,202 150 294 
			 2008 30,208 1,002 167 247 
			 2009 30,130 1,004 177 292 
			 (1) Figures represent number of entries, so if a student had entered two foreign languages, they would be represented twice.  Source:  Achievement and Attainment tables. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number students( 1)  entered for foreign language GCSEs from 2002-09 
			   England  Sussex  Hove Constituency  Brighton and Hove 
			 2002 461,000 17,046 1,034 2,583 
			 2003 453,900 12,841 945 1,939 
			 2004 437,200 12,583 897 1,973 
			 2005 375,300 11,212 928 1,748 
			 2006 327,000 10,047 692 1,420 
			 2007 301,600 9,001 674 1,224 
			 2008 288,900 10,088 763 1,565 
			 2009 278,800 9,053 661 1,418 
			 (1). Figures represent number of entries, so if a student had entered two foreign languages, they would be represented twice.  Notes: 1. The GCSE figures for 2002-04 are for pupils aged 15. The figures for 2005-09 are based on pupils at the end of KS4. 2. Figures are based on entries in all school types.  Source:  Achievement and Attainment tables.

History: A-level

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many and what proportion of pupils were entered for history A-level in  (a) comprehensive schools,  (b) maintained selective schools and  (c) independent schools in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many and what proportion of pupils obtained a grade C or above in history A-level in  (a) comprehensive schools,  (b) maintained selective schools and  (c) independent schools in each year since 1997.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is given in the following table and covers candidates aged 16-18 entered for A-levels during the academic year:
	
		
			  School type and year  Number entered for A-level history  Number achieving grade A-C in A-level history  % of all A-level candidates entered for history  % of all A-level candidates achieving grade A-C in history  % of those entered for history achieving a grade A-C 
			  Comprehensive  
			 1997 15,740 7,808 17.1 8.5 49.6 
			 1998 15,742 7,963 16.2 8.2 50.6 
			 1999 15,244 8,019 15.4 8.1 52.6 
			 2000 15,241 8,269 15.4 8.3 54.3 
			 2001 15,498 8,560 15.0 8.3 55.2 
			 2002 16,798 10,759 15.3 9.8 64.0 
			 2003 17,138 11,405 14.9 10.6 66.5 
			 2004 17,957 12,192 15.4 10.4 67.9 
			 2005 18,532 12,673 15.9 10.9 68.4 
			 2006 19,401 13,370 16.6 11.5 68.9 
			 2007 19,279 13,448 17.0 11.9 69.8 
			 2008 20,042 14,587 17.1 12.5 72.8 
			 2009 20,248 15,122 16.9 12.6 74.7 
			   
			  Selective  
			 1997 3,321 2,229 19.6 13.2 67.1 
			 1998 3,155 2,162 17.9 12.3 68.5 
			 1999 3,301 2,388 18.6 13.5 72.3 
			 2000 3,173 2,268 17.7 12.6 71.5 
			 2001 3,404 2,497 18.5 13.6 73.4 
			 2002 3,698 3,057 20.2 16.7 82.7 
			 2003 3,884 3,380 20.6 19.0 87.0 
			 2004 4,076 3,584 21.1 18.5 87.9 
			 2005 4,237 3,718 21.2 18.6 87.8 
			 2006 4,313 3,840 21.5 19.1 89.0 
			 2007 4,447 3,979 21.6 19.3 89.5 
			 2008 4,541 4,119 21.4 19.4 90.7 
			 2009 4,614 4,188 21.8 19.8 90.8 
			   
			  Independent  
			 1997 7,112 5,383 19.6 14.8 75.7 
			 1998 6,534 5,061 17.9 13.8 77.5 
			 1999 6,605 5,231 17.9 14.2 79.2 
			 2000 6,454 5,185 18.2 14.6 80.3 
			 2001 6,555 5,393 19.0 15.7 82.3 
			 2002 6,853 6,103 20.9 18.6 89.1 
			 2003 6,849 6,230 20.1 19.2 91.0 
			 2004 7,167 6,541 20.6 18.8 91.3 
			 2005 7,084 6,566 21.1 19.5 92.7 
			 2006 7,150 6,628 21.2 19.6 92.7 
			 2007 7,174 6,689 21.5 20.1 93.2 
			 2008 7,377 6,909 21.3 20.0 93.7 
			 2009 7,477 7,045 21.2 20.0 94.2 
			  Note:  Significant numbers of history A-levels are also sat in other institution types such as secondary modern schools and FE colleges. Therefore figures in this answer will not sum to the local authority totals given in PQs 15944 and 15945 which include all maintained schools and FE colleges but exclude independent schools. Provisional figures for 2010 will be published on 21 October.

History: GCSE

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  in how many mainstream secondary schools no pupil obtained grade C or above at history GCSE in the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many mainstream secondary schools did not enter a single pupil for a history GCSE in the last 12 months.

Nick Gibb: Of the 3,989 mainstream secondary schools with any pupils at the end of key stage 4, 310 such schools had no pupil reach the end of key stage 4 with a pass in GCSE history at grade A*-C.
	At 269 of these schools, none of the pupils at the end of key stage 4 had been entered for GCSE history.

History: GCSE

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils obtained a grade C or above in history GCSE in each local authority in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The requested information is given in the following table.
	
		
			  GCSE achievement of pupils at the end of key stage 4 in history by each local authority in 2009 
			   Number of pupils achieving A*-C in history  Percentage of all pupils achieving A*-C in history 
			 Camden 301 21 
			 Greenwich 379 16 
			 Hackney 249 18 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 336 32 
			 Islington 190 13 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 159 28 
			 Lambeth 214 14 
			 Lewisham 359 17 
			 Southwark 375 16 
			 Tower Hamlets 244 10 
			 Wandsworth 312 17 
			 City of Westminster 231 18 
			 Barking and Dagenham 385 19 
			 Barnet 967 30 
			 Bexley 861 27 
			 Brent 563 20 
			 Bromley 980 28 
			 Croydon 651 18 
			 Ealing 583 21 
			 Enfield 868 24 
			 Haringey 406 19 
			 Harrow 508 24 
			 Havering 730 24 
			 Hillingdon 467 16 
			 Hounslow 689 27 
			 Kingston upon Thames 430 29 
			 Merton 247 16 
			 Newham 359 11 
			 Redbridge 806 25 
			 Richmond upon Thames 476 34 
			 Sutton 763 29 
			 Waltham Forest 448 17 
			 Birmingham 2,352 19 
			 Coventry 468 13 
			 Dudley 733 18 
			 Sandwell 415 11 
			 Solihull 649 21 
			 Walsall 636 17 
			 Wolverhampton 387 14 
			 Knowsley 99 6 
			 Liverpool 834 16 
			 St Helens 311 14 
			 Sefton 759 21 
			 Wirral 925 23 
			 Bolton 617 17 
			 Bury 470 21 
			 Manchester 515 11 
			 Oldham 404 13 
			 Rochdale 408 16 
			 Salford 289 12 
			 Stockport 512 17 
			 Tameside 377 13 
			 Trafford 807 28 
			 Wigan 672 17 
			 Barnsley 384 15 
			 Doncaster 583 16 
			 Rotherham 562 15 
			 Sheffield 913 16 
			 Bradford 780 13 
			 Calderdale 617 23 
			 Kirklees 839 18 
			 Leeds 1,590 19 
			 Wakefield 620 15 
			 Gateshead 433 20 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 372 14 
			 North Tyneside 500 22 
			 South Tyneside 255 13 
			 Sunderland 551 16 
			 Isles of Scilly 5 33 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 618 28 
			 City of Bristol 473 15 
			 North Somerset 499 22 
			 South Gloucestershire 646 21 
			 Hartlepool 260 21 
			 Middlesbrough 220 13 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 391 20 
			 Stockton on Tees 455 19 
			 City of Kingston upon Hull 238 8 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 922 23 
			 North East Lincolnshire 221 11 
			 North Lincolnshire 271 13 
			 North Yorkshire 1,683 24 
			 City of York 420 25 
			 Luton 401 17 
			 Bedford Borough 322 17 
			 Central Bedfordshire 568 20 
			 Buckinghamshire 1,628 29 
			 Milton Keynes 446 17 
			 Derbyshire 1,774 20 
			 Derby City 478 17 
			 Dorset 1,019 23 
			 Poole 393 23 
			 Bournemouth 351 20 
			 Durham 954 17 
			 Darlington 227 19 
			 East Sussex 1,031 20 
			 Brighton and Hove 465 20 
			 Hampshire 3,396 24 
			 Portsmouth 304 15 
			 Southampton 358 16 
			 Leicestershire 754 10 
			 Leicester City 466 13 
			 Rutland 132 28 
			 Staffordshire 2,026 21 
			 Stoke on Trent 342 13 
			 Wiltshire 1,133 22 
			 Swindon 433 19 
			 Bracknell Forest 328 29 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 387 25 
			 West Berkshire 566 28 
			 Reading 209 22 
			 Slough 297 20 
			 Wokingham 585 34 
			 Cambridgeshire 1,640 28 
			 Peterborough, City of 538 24 
			 Halton 254 16 
			 Warrington 651 25 
			 Devon 1,458 19 
			 Plymouth, City of 584 20 
			 Torbay 360 24 
			 Essex 3,191 20 
			 Southend on Sea 544 25 
			 Thurrock 270 14 
			 Herefordshire 410 21 
			 Worcestershire 1,321 21 
			 Kent 3,357 20 
			 Medway 536 16 
			 Lancashire 2,572 19 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 249 14 
			 Blackpool 223 14 
			 Nottinghamshire 1,746 19 
			 Nottingham, City of 321 12 
			 Shropshire 748 23 
			 Telford and Wrekin 413 20 
			 Cheshire East 1,044 26 
			 Cheshire West and Cheshire 827 21 
			 Cornwall 1,012 17 
			 Cumbria 1,312 22 
			 Gloucestershire 1,780 26 
			 Hertfordshire 3,635 28 
			 Isle of Wight 329 22 
			 Lincolnshire 2,028 24 
			 Norfolk 1,828 20 
			 Northamptonshire 1,509 19 
			 Northumberland 706 19 
			 Oxfordshire 1,588 25 
			 Somerset 1,347 24 
			 Suffolk 1,691 22 
			 Surrey 2,538 24 
			 Warwickshire 1,276 21 
			 West Sussex 1,726 21 
			  Note: Figures are based on pupils in maintained schools only in England.

History: GCSE

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils in mainstream maintained secondary schools were entered for history GCSE in each local authority in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The requested information is given in the following table.
	
		
			  GCSE attempts of pupils at the end of key stage 4 in history by each local authority in 2009 
			   Number of pupils who entered GCSE history  Percentage of all pupils who entered GCSE history 
			 Camden 475 33 
			 Greenwich 693 29 
			 Hackney 389 29 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 407 39 
			 Islington 390 28 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 203 36 
			 Lambeth 376 24 
			 Lewisham 615 29 
			 Southwark 654 28 
			 Tower Hamlets 504 21 
			 Wandsworth 527 28 
			 City of Westminster 373 29 
			 Barking and Dagenham 687 34 
			 Barnet 1,269 39 
			 Bexley 1,287 40 
			 Brent 748 27 
			 Bromley 1,336 38 
			 Croydon 1,036 28 
			 Ealing 863 31 
			 Enfield 1,230 34 
			 Haringey 570 26 
			 Harrow 709 33 
			 Havering 1,099 36 
			 Hillingdon 769 26 
			 Hounslow 960 38 
			 Kingston upon Thames 548 37 
			 Merton 394 25 
			 Newham 596 18 
			 Redbridge 1,058 33 
			 Richmond upon Thames 640 45 
			 Sutton 934 36 
			 Waltham Forest 735 28 
			 Birmingham 3,623 29 
			 Coventry 737 21 
			 Dudley 1,226 31 
			 Sandwell 743 21 
			 Solihull 951 31 
			 Walsall 1,031 28 
			 Wolverhampton 658 24 
			 Knowsley 260 16 
			 Liverpool 1,407 26 
			 St Helens 548 25 
			 Sefton 1,102 31 
			 Wirral 1,349 34 
			 Bolton 990 27 
			 Bury 730 33 
			 Manchester 913 19 
			 Oldham 701 23 
			 Rochdale 671 26 
			 Salford 542 23 
			 Stockport 786 26 
			 Tameside 668 22 
			 Trafford 990 34 
			 Wigan 1,026 26 
			 Barnsley 842 32 
			 Doncaster 1,005 27 
			 Rotherham 847 23 
			 Sheffield 1,471 26 
			 Bradford 1,366 23 
			 Calderdale 945 36 
			 Kirklees 1,401 30 
			 Leeds 2,417 29 
			 Wakefield 1,095 27 
			 Gateshead 632 29 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 595 22 
			 North Tyneside 789 34 
			 South Tyneside 493 26 
			 Sunderland 906 26 
			 Isles of Scilly 5 33 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 791 36 
			 City of Bristol 784 25 
			 North Somerset 791 35 
			 South Gloucestershire 1,092 35 
			 Hartlepool 377 30 
			 Middlesbrough 405 23 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 633 33 
			 Stockton on Tees 755 31 
			 City of Kingston upon Hull 639 22 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 1,474 37 
			 North East Lincolnshire 349 18 
			 North Lincolnshire 504 25 
			 North Yorkshire 2,298 33 
			 City of York 643 38 
			 Luton 706 29 
			 Bedford Borough 433 23 
			 Central Bedfordshire 955 33 
			 Buckinghamshire 2,077 37 
			 Milton Keynes 649 25 
			 Derbyshire 2,608 29 
			 Derby City 758 26 
			 Dorset 1,465 34 
			 Poole 570 34 
			 Bournemouth 454 26 
			 Durham 1,491 26 
			 Darlington 311 26 
			 East Sussex 1,518 29 
			 Brighton and Hove 672 29 
			 Hampshire 4,937 35 
			 Portsmouth 575 29 
			 Southampton 608 27 
			 Leicestershire 1,291 17 
			 Leicester City 790 23 
			 Rutland 190 40 
			 Staffordshire 3,247 33 
			 Stoke on Trent 608 22 
			 Wiltshire 1,713 34 
			 Swindon 698 31 
			 Bracknell Forest 517 46 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 541 35 
			 West Berkshire 793 40 
			 Reading 312 33 
			 Slough 366 25 
			 Wokingham 794 47 
			 Cambridgeshire 2,252 39 
			 Peterborough, City of 831 36 
			 Halton 402 26 
			 Warrington 929 36 
			 Devon 2,241 29 
			 Plymouth, City of 900 30 
			 Torbay 443 29 
			 Essex 5,092 32 
			 Southend on Sea 729 33 
			 Thurrock 451 24 
			 Herefordshire 664 35 
			 Worcestershire 1,990 32 
			 Kent 4,737 28 
			 Medway 890 26 
			 Lancashire 3,986 29 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 476 26 
			 Blackpool 435 26 
			 Nottinghamshire 2,904 31 
			 Nottingham, City of 560 20 
			 Shropshire 1,131 35 
			 Telford and Wrekin 608 29 
			 Cheshire East 1,498 37 
			 Cheshire West and Cheshire 1,251 31 
			 Cornwall 1,668 28 
			 Cumbria 2,081 34 
			 Gloucestershire 2,322 34 
			 Hertfordshire 5,070 39 
			 Isle of Wight 599 40 
			 Lincolnshire 2,892 34 
			 Norfolk 2,997 34 
			 Northamptonshire 2,517 31 
			 Northumberland 1,136 30 
			 Oxfordshire 2,391 38 
			 Somerset 2,145 38 
			 Suffolk 2,940 38 
			 Surrey 3,606 34 
			 Warwickshire 2,085 35 
			 West Sussex 2,598 32 
			  Note: Figures are based on pupils in maintained schools only in England.

History: GCSE and A-level

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils  (a) eligible and  (b) not eligible for free school meals were entered for (i) a history GCSE and (ii) a history A-level in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: The information required is given in the following tables:
	
		
			  Number and proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals who were entered for a history A-level in the period 2005-09 
			   FSM  Non-FSM 
			   Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 2005 1,074 8.6 28,757 14.9 
			 2006 1,133 7.5 29,843 13.4 
			 2007 1,113 7.2 29,363 13.1 
			 2008 1,182 7.4 30,613 13.1 
			 2009 1,238 7.3 30,731 12.4 
			  Source: National Pupil Database (NPD). 
		
	
	The A-level figures relate to students at the end of advanced level study in maintained schools and FE colleges.
	
		
			  Number and proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals who were entered for a history GCSE in the period 2005-09 
			   FSM  Non-FSM 
			   Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 2005 15,353 19.2 164,772 32.8 
			 2006 14,727 18.9 168,517 32.7 
			 2007 14,057 18.4 165,116 31.6 
			 2008 13,348 17.9 166,433 31.9 
			 2009 13,480 18.1 160,770 31.9 
			  Source: National Pupil Database (NPD). 
		
	
	The GCSE figures relate to pupils at the end of key stage 4 in maintained schools only.

Primary Education: Capital Investment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what his Department's policy is on the provision of funding for primary school capital projects;
	(2)  if his Department will provide equivalent funding to phase two of Aintree Davenhill primary school to that which has been committed by Sefton council;
	(3)  how much funding the Government have agreed to provide for primary school capital projects in 2010-11;
	(4)  if he will take steps to prioritise funding for the completion of school building projects which have been planned in phases and where funding is still required for the later phases.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 11 October 2010
	All capital resources for this spending period have been allocated, and there is no scope for making additional resources available. Over the current spending period Sefton borough council and its schools have been allocated nearly £65 million of capital support, including over £9 million relating to the primary capital programme. An announcement concerning future capital support, including primary capital, will take place following the outcome of the spending review covering the period 2011-12 to 2014-15.

Pupils: Asthma

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what mechanisms are in place to ensure that children with asthma have access to an inhaler at school; and if he will take steps to enable schools to keep shared inhalers for use in emergencies;
	(2)  if he will take steps to ensure that training on the requirements of children with asthma is available for all school staff.

Nick Gibb: Guidance issued by the Department, "Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings":
	http://publications.education.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/Managing%20Medicines%20Nov%2007%20version.pdf
	states that children with asthma need to have immediate access to their reliever inhalers and advises that spare inhalers labelled for the use of individual children may be kept at school or early years settings, in case a child's ready access inhaler is mislaid or runs out.
	It is for schools and local authorities (LAs) to set their own policies on managing the medical conditions of their pupils, including the training needs of staff, taking into account local needs and resources. They should work with local health services to make sure comprehensive training is in place and delivered by appropriately qualified health professionals. This should ensure that staff are fully competent to undertake medical support duties, including supporting children with asthma.

Multiple Birth Children

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy to require schools to involve parents of multiple birth children in deciding whether they should be placed in the same class or separate classes  (a) when starting school and  (b) in subsequent years; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will bring forward proposals to implement the recommendations of the Chief Schools Adjudicator that  (a) the schools admissions code be revised to ensure that multiple birth children are allocated places together at primary school by adding them to the list of excepted pupils in the class size regulations and  (b) admission authorities are compelled to consult on and publish arrangements for the admission of multiple birth children; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: It is for schools to determine in which classes children from multiple births should be placed, but I would expect their parents to be consulted in each case.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is considering the Chief Adjudicator's recommendations to the previous Secretary of State regarding the admission to the same school of twins and other children from multiple births, and will announce in due course any policy changes which may arise.

Schools: Standards

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of schools which did not exceed the national challenge floor target of 30% of pupils gaining five GCSEs at A* to C grade including English and mathematics in 2010.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 16 September 2010
	 The number of schools where fewer than 30% of pupils achieved five GCSEs at A*-C including English and mathematics in 2010 will be published as a National Statistic as part of Statistical First Release to be published in January 2011. Individual school results will be published as Official Statistics in the school performance tables at the same time.

Teachers: Qualifications

Phil Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the status of decisions relating to a teacher's professional standing made by the General Teaching Council (GTC) will be following the abolition of the GTC.

Nick Gibb: The Government are committed to maintaining an efficient and effective regulatory system for the teaching profession. Detailed arrangements are yet to be agreed, but the GTCE's decisions relating to disciplinary action against teachers will be upheld after its abolition, subject to the normal processes of appeal. The GTCE will continue to make those decisions until the point at which it is abolished. We are now in the process of considering a range of options for handling the current suite of GTCE functions, including how the regulatory and disciplinary functions should operate once the GTCE has been abolished. We will announce further details on how these functions will operate in due course and we hope to include these within new legislation later in the year.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Capita

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many contracts his Department has had with Capita in each year since its inception; and how much it paid to Capita under such contracts in each such year.

Gregory Barker: Since DECC's inception in October 2008 the Department has held eight contracts and spent a total of £74.3 million to date with the Capita Group (CG). The majority of the spend can be attributed to the Coal Liabilities Unit (CLU) where it has held three contracts of which one has now been discontinued as of the start of this financial year. Further details of the contracts held by CLU and the other contracts held by the Department have been summarised as follows.
	Since the inception of DECC in October 2008, the Coal Liabilities Unit has had three contracts with the Capita Group. Two of them are still in operation:
	(i) handling and administration of coal health compensation claims, due to end in July 2011; and
	(ii) administration and management of the National Concessionary Fuel Scheme (NCFS) via the National Concessionary Fuel Office (NCFO), coming to an end in March 2011 but recently extended for further two years until March 2013.
	(iii) undertaking medical assessments for VWF Services claims. The contract ended in December 2009.
	From October 2008 to the end of September 2010 Capita has received a total of £74.2 million in relation to these contracts, £70.6 million in relation to the coal health compensation claims and £3.2 million in relation to the National Concessionary Fuel Office contract, and £0.3 million in relation to Capita Health Solutions. See the following breakdown by financial year.
	
		
			  £ 
			  Financial year  2008-09( 1)  2009-10  2010-11( 2) 
			 Coal health compensation claims contract 34,796,449 31,876,361 3,942,889 
			 National Concessionary Fuel Office contract 1,427,673 1,239,764 618,848 
			 Capita Health Solutions 210,128 114,485 - 
			 Total 36,434,250 33,230,610 4,561,737 
			 (1) From October 2008 (2) To end September 2010 only 
		
	
	The Department has held five other contracts with the CG outside of CLU during financial years 2008-09 to 2010-11 which have been summarised as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			  Financial year  2008-09( 1)  2009-10  2010-11( 2) 
			 Provision of a Chair for Nuclear Financing Assurance Board 5,000.00 - - 
			 Temporary staff to assist IT Team with the transition to FIT - 34,745.00 1,225.00 
			 Project support to the Energy and Climate Change Summer Strategy - 23,008.75 - 
			 Recruitment/Selection Costs for trainee graduates - 5,512.81 - 
			 Conference and Exhibition Services - 325.00 - 
			 Total 5,000.00 63,591.56 1,225.00 
			 (1) From October 2008 (2) To end September 2010 only 
		
	
	The total amount spent in each financial year:
	
		
			  £ 
			  Financial year  2008-09( 1)  2009-10  2010-11( 2) 
			 Total 36,439,250 33,294,201.56 4,562,962 
			 (1) From October 2008 (2) To end September 2010 only

Circulator Pumps: Energy

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when his Department plans to determine the payback period for installing energy efficient circulator pumps in  (a) domestic and  (b) non-domestic properties.

Gregory Barker: The Department has no plans to determine the payback period for installing energy efficiency circulator pumps in either domestic or non-domestic properties.
	Payback periods are difficult to determine precisely. They are influenced by the unit cost of the pump, the cost of installation, the actual running hours per year and the value of the fuel saved. As these variables are bespoke to each building payback periods are likely to vary considerably. The 2010 Building Services Compliance Guide recommends the use of circulators that have an A to G rating.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10 per cent. by May 2011.

Gregory Barker: The Department's carbon emissions from energy use in our two buildings (3 Whitehall Place, London and Atholl House, Aberdeen) were 10.8% lower in the period 1 May 2010 to 30 September 2010 than in the same period in 2009.
	Along with other Departments, DECC has published details of the projects that we will undertake as our contribution to the pan-government target to reduce CO2 emissions by May 2011 by 10%. This information is available at:
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date
	Among these projects is an investment in a new chiller for on-site IT equipment in our London headquarters, which is expected to lead to a significant reduction in electricity demand from November 2010 onwards. Alongside this capital project, departmental officials are also being engaged in the drive to reduce energy use. On 30 September, over 250 energy saving ideas were received from staff through a pledge wall. The Department will have implemented some of these ideas before the end of October.

Departmental Legislation

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many statutory duties have been placed on local authorities by legislation introduced by his Department in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has placed the following duties on local authorities through legislation (primary, secondary and orders in Council) each year since 2008:
	
		
			   Description  Number of duties 
			 2008 Climate Change Act 2008 s 81- Duty on any local authority in Wales to have regard, in exercising its functions, to any current climate change measures report. 1 
			 2009 Electricity and Gas (Community Energy Saving Programme) Order 2009 Art 16 (2)(a) - Indirect requirement on any local authority to confirm in writing that a generator or supplier has consulted it on a qualifying action which it intends to promote in that local authority's area. 1 
			 2010 CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2010 Art 16(2) and 17(2) -Duty on any local authority that meets the qualification criteria to register for the emissions trading scheme in respect of greenhouse gases. 1

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many officials his Department has appointed on a fixed-term contract since 7 May 2010.

Gregory Barker: Since 7 May 2010 the Department for Energy and Climate Change has appointed 11 officials on fixed-term contracts.

Departmental Recruitment

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has to recruit staff to senior Civil Service posts in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: DECC will be working through the outcome of the spending review on 20 October to determine if any recruitment to SCS posts will be required in the next 12 months.

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid a salary.

Gregory Barker: In the last 12 months the Department for Energy and Climate Change has engaged 22 interns. Of those,  (a) eight were unpaid,  (b) four were paid expenses only and  (c) 10 were paid above the national minimum wage.

Energy: Prices

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require energy companies to maintain the availability of a tariff during the time taken by a customer to switch companies to take up that tariff; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: Under existing rules if a customer agrees a contract for a fixed rate tariff then, subject to the terms and conditions of this tariff, they will be guaranteed the agreed price upon completion of the switching process.
	If a customer agrees a contract for a variable tariff then the price of that tariff may change during the switching process, subject to the terms and conditions of that tariff. In these circumstances, consumers have the right to transfer to a different tariff or supplier without having to pay the increased charges, providing they inform their supplier within 20 working days of receiving the notification of a price change.

Fossil Fuels: Subsidies

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 5 July 2010,  Official Report, column 36W, on energy: subsidies, what definition of fossil fuel subsidies was used by the G20 at the Summit; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The G20 Pittsburgh summit left it to its members to determine what definition they wished to use of what constitutes a fuel subsidy for the purposes of this initiative.

Liquid Petroleum Gas

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent representations he has received on the diversity of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) supplies from domestic consumers of LPG who are parties to communal contracts for LPG supply.

Charles Hendry: The Department has received four letters since August from MPs on diversity of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) supplies from domestic consumers of LPG who are parties to communal contracts for LPG supply.

Microgeneration

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the potential contribution of micro combined heat and power to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Gregory Barker: The most recent assessment of the potential contribution of micro-combined heat and power to reducing carbon dioxide emissions was made as part of the impact assessment of the operation of the Feed-in Tariff regime. Details of the impact assessment are available on the DECC website at
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/elec financial/elec_financial.aspx
	The assessment noted the potential for micro-combined heat and power to deliver significant carbon savings in the form of avoided carbon emissions compared to a gas boiler and grid electricity.

Microgeneration

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he plans to include provision for funding for micro combined heat and power units in his proposed Green Deal for Businesses scheme.

Gregory Barker: The Department strongly supports the roll out of CHP and it is intended that a range of energy saving measures, which are expected to pay for themselves over a set period of time through savings on energy bills, will qualify for green deal finance under the Green Deal for businesses. However, decisions on the specific measures and technologies which will be eligible for green deal finance have yet to be finalised.

Nuclear Power Stations: Insurance

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions  (a) he and  (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives of the private insurance industry on opportunities for that industry to provide comprehensive accident liability insurance cover for nuclear power plant operators.

Charles Hendry: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not held any discussions with the private insurance industry on this matter but other DECC Ministers and DECC officials have as part of the Department's work on implementing revisions to the Paris convention on nuclear third party liability and the Brussels supplementary convention.
	The conventions provide that operators of nuclear installations are to be liable to pay compensation for certain categories of third party damage caused by a nuclear incident. Operators are required to have insurance or other financial security to cover their liabilities. The revisions to the conventions increase the liabilities which nuclear operators will be responsible for and for which they will need to have insurance cover or other financial security. The Department has therefore engaged with the insurance industry on the cover it is willing to provide for the increased liabilities.
	Government intend to issue a public consultation on the implementation of the revised conventions later this year. The consultation will set out our understanding of the current insurance market position and will provide an opportunity for the insurance industry to comment about what they may be able to cover.

Nuclear Power Stations: Security

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost to his Department was of providing security cover for commercial nuclear installations in the UK in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and whether any cost recovery is applied to nuclear operators to offset such expenditure.

Charles Hendry: Under the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003, the civil nuclear industry is required to have in place a range of security measures to protect nuclear sites, materials, transports and information. The cost of these security measures and the costs of their regulation by the Office of Civil Nuclear Security are met by the civil nuclear industry in accordance with the Nuclear Industries Security (Fees) Regulations 2005 and the Energy Act 2004 (part 1, chapter 3, section 60). In addition to this, my Department has provided some capital funding to the Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) for the procurement of large items of equipment to enable the Civil Nuclear Constabulary to operate effectively. The CNPA then recovers the cost of these items from the civil nuclear industry. In 2009-10, £2.7million was provided to the CNPA by the Department.

Oil: Arctic

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

Charles Hendry: We have had no such discussions.

Power Failures: Kent

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent representations he has received on the power cuts at Dartford Creek cable bridge on 20 July 2009.

Charles Hendry: Since the beginning of August 2010, representations have been received from my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Gareth Johnson) on 2 August 2010 and 17 September 2010. A response was sent by my noble Friend Lord Marland of Odstock on 20 September 2010.

Renewables Obligation: Biofuels

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy  (a) to conduct an immediate review of agro-fuel Renewable Obligation Certificate banding for electricity generation and  (b) not to guarantee the current level of Renewable Obligation Certificates for agro fuels.

Gregory Barker: My officials are currently in the process of appointing independent consultants to carry out the scheduled banding review of the renewables obligation. This will look at the support level for biomass technologies.
	In June 2010 the Government published their response on grandfathering of biomass technologies:
	http://decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/RHI/245-government-response.pdf
	In it the Government set out their intention to grandfather anaerobic digestion and energy from waste plants, dedicated biomass, and advanced conversion technologies (gasification and pyrolysis); and not to grandfather bioliquids and the uplift available for CHP and for the use of dedicated energy crops such as Miscanthus and willow.

Rented Housing: Energy

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will assess the merits of bringing forward proposals under section 35(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 to require private landlords to make reasonable adjustments to improve the energy efficiency of  (a) premises let out and  (b) the buildings in which those premises are located.

Gregory Barker: Regulating under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (which applies to residential not commercial property) would be a matter for my colleague the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (CLG). I can confirm that through the coalition Government's Green Deal we will introduce substantial new measures to enable home energy efficiency improvements to be paid for by savings from energy bills, and these measures will apply to the private rented, as well as both owner-occupied and social housing, sectors. This is a big step forward as it will remove the need for private landlords to pay upfront costs for measures that they do not directly benefit from.

Warm Front Scheme

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether grants under the Warm Front Scheme may be made in respect of all types and methods of loft insulation.

Gregory Barker: The following types of loft insulation are used under the Warm Front Scheme:
	(i) Man-made mineral fibre thermal insulation mats complying with BS 5803: Part 1.
	(ii) Man-made mineral fibre thermal insulation in pelleted or granular form for application by blowing complying with BS 5803: Part 2.
	(iii) Cellulose fibre thermal insulation for application by blowing complying with BS 5803: Part 3.
	(iv) Wool based thermal insulation batts complying with agreement certificate 02/3950
	Loft insulation is fitted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

Wind Power: Noise

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will review the implementation of recommendations made to the Government by the Hayes McKenzie Partnership in respect of wind turbine noise nuisance and aerodynamic modulation, with a view to reducing permitted noise limits.

Gregory Barker: The work being carried out by Hayes McKenzie Partnership is a review of how the current noise guidance is implemented in consideration of planning decisions, and is not concerned with the guidance itself or issues such as permitted noise limits. Hayes McKenzie are now working up their draft report which will then be independently peer reviewed. It is too early to speculate on possible next steps following its publication.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Deployment

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has made a recent assessment of the merits of rationalising the harmony regulations of the armed services.

Andrew Robathan: Harmony guidelines-not regulations-were introduced to cover the length of time service personnel spend away on operational tours and the interval that they should have between tours. Each service sets its own guidelines which reflect specific single service requirements, ethos, expectation and deployment on operations.
	The Secretary of State has asked the Defence Reform Unit, alongside the Chiefs of Staff to begin a review of all our current practices impacting upon our personnel. This will ensure that we are using our people, our greatest asset, to the best of their ability.

Armed Forces: Families

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what mechanisms are in place to ensure delivery of successful packages sent by families to armed forces personnel serving in Afghanistan; and if he will review delivery sites to the Irish Guards to ensure that packages reach their destination.

Andrew Robathan: High priority is placed on ensuring that mail to members of the armed forces serving in Afghanistan is sent as quickly and securely as possible. All mail bags are electronically monitored to ensure they are delivered and in addition test letters are regularly sent to assess the time taken to deliver the mail.
	There have been no recent problems reported concerning the delivery of mail to British troops in Afghanistan, including to the Irish Guards. As such, while we will continue to monitor performance, there are no plans to change the current arrangements.

Armed Forces: Food

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of food supplied to the armed forces was domestically produced in the latest period for which figures are available.

Peter Luff: The Pay As You Dine (PAYD) programme is currently being introduced across non-operational bases and barracks in the UK, and covers more than 65% of service personnel, who pay for the food themselves. Contractors are required to seek best value for money in the open market, consistent with meeting EU quality standards, and wherever competitive, give full consideration to procuring British products. The last year for which we have data is 2008-09 and relates to a sample basket of fresh and frozen ingredients as specified by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 49% of this basket was domestically produced.
	Personnel not being fed under the PAYD programme are covered by the single food supply contract placed by the Defence Food Services Team, part of the Defence Equipment and Support Organisation. This covers personnel serving on operations and overseas exercises, as well as those at UK bases not yet covered by PAYD. The proportion of domestically produced food procured under the single food supply contract in 2008-09 was 62%.

Armed Forces: Pay

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria his Department uses to determine whether armed forces personnel are placed in the higher or lower pay ranges; and what mechanism his Department has put in place to ensure that anomalies across the pay structure are identified and corrected.

Andrew Robathan: Only other ranks in the armed forces are paid according to the allocation of their rank and trade to either the higher or lower pay range as determined by a process of job evaluation. The job evaluation system has six factors against which each job subject to evaluation is measured. These are:
	Knowledge, skills and experience needed for the post, and how widely they must be applied.
	Complexity and mental challenge of the job.
	Judgment and decision-making, and their impact on the success of the organisation.
	Use of resources (personnel, equipment, budgets etc.); level of supervision and the jobholder's influence in the organisation.
	Communication-the level of internal and external communications and their significance.
	Working conditions-health and safety aspects, bodily constraints and physical environment of the job in question.
	The addition of each of the six factor scores produces a numerical score for the job. Scores from a sample of statistically representative jobs are combined to produce a weighted average score for the trade and rank. This score largely determines whether a trade/rank is to be paid in the high or low pay range. However, each rank has a pay boundary threshold and, if the score falls within 5% of it, the service concerned may exercise management discretion to allow the rank group concerned to be moved up or down across the pay boundary.
	Checks and balances within the job evaluation process are:
	Jobs are scored by independent single service job evaluation judges;
	Job scores (and therefore trade/rank scores) are consensus scores;
	Engagement of branch managers/trade sponsors throughout the process;
	Evaluations of similar trades from two or three services undertaken in the same year and results not published until all is complete; and "Feel-fair" exercises conducted by the judging panel on conclusion of each judging session.
	A number of mechanisms exist that provide a wider perspective on the overall pay structure, including centrally sponsored research and analysis, an extensive evidence gathering process in support of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body annual pay round, and routine communication through the chain of command.

Armed Forces: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding his Department has provided to Combat Stress to help former members of the armed forces who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: Although the Ministry of Defence works closely with the Department of Health, the NHS is responsible for treating former members of the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) uses discretionary powers under the War Pensions Scheme to meet treatment costs arising wholly or mainly as a result of disablement due to service before 6 April 2005, where such costs are not provided for under other UK legislation.
	In 2009-10 the MOD provided £3 million to Combat Stress for residential treatment of war pensioners with mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by service and £49,000 for travel expenses incurred by war pensioners receiving such treatment. Combat Stress also receives separate funding from NHS Scotland for war pensioners resident in Scotland treated at Combat Stress's centre in Ayr.
	In June the Prime Minister confirmed an additional £2 million funding to the Department of Health into veterans' mental health services, including provision for 15 veterans' mental health nurses to be embedded into NHS mental health trusts.
	Following a recent study of health services for the armed forces community by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), we will work with Combat Stress, the Department of Health and others to ensure delivery of recommendations he has made to improve support for serving and former members of the armed forces.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policy on recruitment to the armed forces of his Department's spending reductions.

Andrew Robathan: At the heart of the Strategic Defence and Security Review has been a thorough examination of our force structure, looking at the overall shape, size and role of the armed forces and Ministry of Defence Civil Service, as well as the reserve forces, including the implications for recruitment.

Astute Class Submarines

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is of the cost of the Astute-class submarine  (a) II,  (b) III,  (c) IV,  (d) V and  (e) VI; and whether each estimate has been revised since his appointment.

Peter Luff: The most recent published estimate of the cost of the Astute Class Submarine programme is recorded in the National Audit Office's Major Project Report (MPR) 2010 (HC 489-I, 2010-2011, dated 15 October 2010). The report forecasts procurement costs for Boats 1 to 3 (Batch 1) as £4,041 million, and the costs for Boat 4 as £1,567 million.
	The current approved level of spend on Astute Boat 5 is £735 million and for Boat 6 is £334 million; however, these do not reflect the total costs of these boats as they undergo incremental approval. The Boat 5 approval includes the nuclear reactor, other long lead items and the initial build work. The Boat 6 approval includes the nuclear reactor core and long lead items.
	These published figures reflect the position as of 31 March 2010 and have not been revised since my right hon. Friend, the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) was appointed.

Astute Class Submarines

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the production drum beat level is for the Astute-class submarines; and whether that has changed since his appointment.

Peter Luff: The re-baselining of the Astute Submarine programme is ongoing and the production 'drum beat' can only be confirmed once detailed joint planned and cost analysis work has been completed. This work will then need to take account of any changes recommended to the Ministry of Defence's equipment programme as a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), which will, in due course, be subject to the Department's and HM Treasury's formal investment approvals process.
	The SDSR has examined all aspects of the defence programme, including the Astute Submarine programme. The outcome will be announced tomorrow.

Defence Equipment: Exports

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department was of the Export Support Team in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10; and whether these costs have been reimbursed by the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation.

Gerald Howarth: All military staff within the Export Support Team (EST) continue to have their salaries, allowances, travel and subsistence claims paid by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Annual costs relating to salaries are £1,393,679.97 for financial year 2008-09 and £1,450,570.35 for financial year 2009-10.
	The annual running cost of export related activities of the EST is £82,120.55 for financial year 2008-09 and £99,109.72 for financial year 2009-10.
	All costs, including associated salaries, are recovered by the MOD from UK Trade and Investment Defence Security Organisation under the service level agreement. As a result, there is no cost to MOD.

Defence: Procurement

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the likelihood of claims arising from any termination of defence contracts.

Peter Luff: Contracts let by the Ministry of Defence have an appropriate 'break' clause as part of their standard terms and conditions. Many factors are taken into account before consideration is given to invoking this clause, including the likelihood of any claims being made. Each case is dealt with on its individual merits.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many officials his Department has appointed on a fixed-term contract since 7 May 2010.

Andrew Robathan: Since 7 May 2010 the Ministry of Defence has appointed 143 members of staff on fixed-term contracts. In all instances fixed term appointments are used to reflect the finite nature of the requirement and include casual appointments as well as longer fixed terms.
	Almost half of the appointments are technical apprentices who are employed on limited term apprenticeship contracts while they undertake their training. Apprenticeship contracts are exempt from the civil service external recruitment freeze. The recruitment of apprentices is part of our continuing commitment to providing the engineering skills needed in the MOD. The 2010 intake increases our numbers undertaking training to around 200.
	26 appointments are teachers employed on short-term contracts in schools educating the children of servicemen and women in Germany and Cyprus. These contracts all began at the start of the academic year.
	Other appointments are in direct support of ongoing operations in Afghanistan and include medical staff employed in the operational theatre and drivers appointed on a short term basis in the UK to provide cover for service personnel deployed on current operations.
	In addition, following an open competition launched in November 2009, the Department made an appointment to a senior civil service, deputy director position within a trading fund agency.

Harrier Aircraft

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will assess the effect on the capability of any new aircraft carrier of a reduction in Harrier capability.

Peter Luff: The Strategic Defence and Security Review is due to be announced to the House on 19 October 2010. Following its publication, I will write to the hon. Member.

Iraq: Military Decorations

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Iraq Medals his Department has awarded since that medal's inception.

Andrew Robathan: The total number of Iraq medals awarded since the inception of the medal is 127,154. Of these, 36,641 were Iraq Medals with Clasp.

Military Aircraft: Repairs and Maintenance

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of refurbishment and maintenance of existing  (a) Harrier and  (b) Tornado capability in the next 10 years.

Peter Luff: holding answer 14 October 2010
	Anticipating the planned retirement from RAF service of the Tornado F3 in March 2011, the estimated logistic support costs of the Tornado GR4 aircraft over the next 10 years is £3.1 billion starting from April 2011. The estimated logistic support costs of the Harrier aircraft from the same date through to its planned out of service date of March 2018 is £0.7 billion. In addition, there are other support costs for all RAF aircraft which are not specifically attributable to either the Harrier or Tornado aircraft.
	All in service equipments are being considered as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, due to be published tomorrow.

Military Decorations

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review the case for a National Defence Medal; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) on 15 June 2010,  Official Report, column 351W.

NATO

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of proposals for a new strategic concept for NATO prepared by the experts groups and distributed in May 2010.

Gerald Howarth: The UK welcomed the report of Madeleine Albright and the Group of Experts. It rightly emphasises the alliance's enduring core purpose in providing collective defence; the importance of responding to threats emanating beyond its borders; of succeeding in Afghanistan; adapting to new and emerging security challenges, including cyber attack; continuing its process of reform and transformation; developing productive relationships with a range of partners, including the EU and Russia; and being able to play its part with others in a comprehensive approach to responding to crises. The group's thorough and inclusive work is an important contribution to the development of NATO's new Strategic Concept, which is due to be endorsed at the Lisbon summit next month.

NATO

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of each paper circulated by NATO member states in preparation for the meeting of NATO defence and foreign affairs ministers in Lisbon from 19 to 21 November 2010.

Gerald Howarth: The summit meeting in Lisbon on 19 to 20 November 2010 is of NATO's Heads of State and Government. Unless made publicly available by the nation itself, national papers circulated within the Alliance in preparation for the summit are done so in confidence. It would therefore be inappropriate to place such papers in the Library of the House.

NATO

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received from the European Leadership Network on proposals by the experts group for reform of NATO strategy.

Gerald Howarth: None.

NATO: Nuclear Weapons

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the retention by NATO of  (a) US tactical nuclear weapons and  (b) stored B61 gravity nuclear bombs at air bases leased by the US administration from NATO member states in Europe.

Gerald Howarth: NATO's nuclear policy and posture is a matter for the Alliance as a whole to determine. The UK will play a full part in any discussions on the issue.

Navy

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department pays conservancy costs in respect of seaports used by the Royal Navy.

Nick Harvey: Yes, when levied by the commercial seaport, Royal Navy ships will pay a conservancy charge. The requirements for dredging and navigation aids in dockyard port waters are driven by the needs of defence and therefore these costs are met by the Ministry of Defence.

Prisoners of War: Compensation

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has made a recent assessment of the merits of making amendments to the Far East Prisoner of War and Civilian Internees ex-gratia compensation scheme to include those civilian internees who lacked formal Japanese records of status.

Andrew Robathan: No. To qualify for a payment under the Scheme, it is necessary to confirm that the claimant (or their deceased spouse) had been interned by the Japanese. We appreciate that the time elapsed since the end of the Second World War may not make this easy and we will consider various types of supporting proof but it needs to be contemporary.
	We have been, and will continue to be, flexible in the type of evidence that we accept as confirmation of an individual having been detained in a camp, or a specifically designated area, under the direct control of the Japanese.
	Although other aspects of the eligibility criteria of the Scheme have been subject to review and amendment since its inception, I do not consider that there is any need to review the need for proof of internment. There remains a requirement for evidence to corroborate any claim before consideration can be given to the disbursement of public funds.

Rendition

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the statement of 6 July 2010,  Official Report, columns 175-178, on the treatment of detainees, and the Prime Minister's letter to the right hon. Sir Peter Gibson of the same date, what separate arrangements his Department has made to address allegations relating to military detention operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Fox: The separate arrangements made by the Ministry of Defence to address the allegations comprise several elements which look both at the historical issues arising from operations in Iraq, where we no longer conduct detention operations, and the current arrangements in those theatres of operations where UK forces are still deployed. Legislative provisions to ensure that we can deal robustly and transparently with allegations are contained in the Armed Forces Act 2006.
	In respect of allegations against British Forces in Iraq, we have established a dedicated Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) to enhance our capacity to review and investigate all such claims. Following the conclusion of an investigation into any particular allegation, the IHAT will report their findings to the Provost Marshal (Army) and, where justified, disciplinary action will be taken against those who may have behaved inappropriately. Separately, and with the full co-operation of the Ministry of Defence, the Baha Mousa Inquiry has been looking into the circumstances relating to the tragic death of Baha Mousa in 2003.
	In respect of current operations, in March this year the MOD's Strategic Detention Policy was published. This document informs subordinate doctrine, instructions and procedures relating to detention. In addition, early this year the Chief of the General Staff directed the Army Inspector to undertake a review into the implementation of policy, training and conduct of detainee handling. This review has looked at detention handling in the round, drawing on recent experiences and current practices, and has resulted in a number of recommendations which will be taken forward under new governance mechanisms. The key findings were set out in a statement to the House by the Minister for the Armed Forces on 14 September 2010,  Official Report, column 35WS.

Syria: Cruise Missiles

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the Russian Government's decision to supply Syria with P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles.

Nick Harvey: The deal is not a contravention of any embargo or sanction. Nevertheless, we would expect Russia, as with other exporting nations, to have considered carefully the potential end-use of such weapons.

USA: Military Alliances

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether he expects the proposed US-UK Defence Trade Co-operation Treaty to enable his Department to purchase more defence equipment off the shelf:
	(2)  what progress has been made on the agreement of a US-UK defence trade co-operation treaty; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: The US-UK Defence Trade Co-operation treaty achieved a major milestone when it was agreed by the US Congress on 29 September 2010 allowing preparations for implementation to begin. The treaty will help improve interoperability and the support provided to our armed forces. It is a symbol of the close defence relationship between our countries. We envisage that the detailed preparations required to bring the treaty arrangements into force will take up to twelve months and will be conducted in close consultation with the US Administration and with UK and US industries. By simplifying export licensing arrangements for Government end use, the treaty will facilitate the more rapid movement of equipment and information between the UK and the US whether purchased off-the-shelf, as part of bilateral project or in support of joint operations.

Weapons: Testing

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what insurance arrangements are required in respect of civilian target shooters using shooting ranges for which his Department is responsible.

Andrew Robathan: Civilians using Ministry of Defence ranges must be covered by a commercial public liability insurance policy with a Limit of Liability of not less than £5 million per incident. This must be unlimited as to the total number of incidents it covers before any access to the Department's shooting ranges is permitted.
	This indemnifies MOD against potential claims from third parties for personal injury or death arising from members of the general public using its ranges.

Wrecks: War Graves

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to add further shipwreck sites to the Maritime War Graves list; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence extends protection to vessels, in military service when lost, by designating them under the terms of the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. To date, the remains of 67 ships have been designated in both UK and international waters. Further designations will be made as part of a continuing programme.
	The Protection of Military Remains Act contains no power to permit a wrecked vessel to be designated as a "war grave" and no other legal mechanism exists for this purpose.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Belarus: Religious Freedom

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of steps taken by the Belarus government in relation to the New Life Church; whether he has made recent representations to the government of Belarus on religious freedom; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Government continue to have serious concerns about freedom of religion in Belarus. While the Catholic and Orthodox churches are able to operate unhindered, Protestant churches face a particularly difficult environment. Our embassy in Minsk works closely with EU partners to raise our concerns about these issues with the Belarusian authorities. We maintain regular contact with civil society organisations devoted to human and civil rights, including freedom of religion. We also observe their public demonstrations and court cases. Our embassy meets representatives of the New Life Church regularly and will continue to follow this case.

Burma: Christianity

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the situation of Christian communities in Burma.

Jeremy Browne: The Government condemn all instances where individuals face persecution or discrimination because of their faith or belief. In Burma, we are particularly concerned at the treatment of Christian and Muslim minorities who are disproportionately affected by the wider pattern of human rights abuses. Our ambassador in Rangoon regularly raises human rights concerns directly with the regime and we will continue to highlight the situation in the UN's human rights bodies, pursuing strongly worded resolutions in the General Assembly and at the Human Rights Council.

Burma: Foreign Relations

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aims and objectives his Department has set for its policy on Burma.

Jeremy Browne: The Government wish to see a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Burma, where human rights are fully respected. Our immediate objectives are the release of more than 2,100 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the start of a genuine process of national reconciliation involving the military regime, the democratic opposition and all ethnic groups.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10 per cent. by May 2011.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions since May 2010 compared to the same period last year. Energy consumption data for our main building is published online
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/fco-energy-consumption
	We have a number of projects planned to deliver carbon reductions within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by at least 10%. Details on these plans are also available online
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date

Departmental Public Expenditure

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  how much was allocated by each Government department to the Discretionary Peacekeeping Fund in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009.
	(2)  how much money was allocated by each Government department to the Conflict Prevention Pool in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009;
	(3)  how much funding was allocated to the BBC World Service in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009;
	(4)  how much money each Department allocated to the British Council in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009;
	(5)  how much money each Department allocated to the Security and Intelligence Fund in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009;
	(6)  how much money each Department allocated to the Special Reserve in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009;
	(7)  how much money each Department allocated to the Stabilisation Aid Fund in 2008.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to my response of 14 October 2010,  Official Report, column 386-87W, to the right hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Mr Alexander).

Departmental Recruitment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria his Department uses to determine whether to employ a former member of staff who has previously taken early retirement or received a severance package from his Department.

Alistair Burt: The current rules of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) allow for staff to return to employment with the civil service subject to certain requirements.
	When the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is considering employing a former member of staff who has either taken early retirement or received a severance package, strict criteria are used based on the organisation's workforce planning needs, whether the former member of staff has skills or expertise that the office lacks and which are business critical, and is value for money.
	If former members of staff do return to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after taking an early retirement package, there is a strictly enforced set of rules covering repayment of compensation and abatement of earnings.

Ilois: Resettlement

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 16 September 2010,  Official Report, column 1186W, on the Ilois: resettlement, on what defence security grounds he has determined his policy against resettlement of the Ilois; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on Government policy on the settlement of civilian populations in the vicinity of defence installations.

Henry Bellingham: Full immigration control over the entire of the British Indian Ocean Territory is necessary to ensure and maintain the availability and effective use of the territory for defence purposes of both the UK and the US with whom the UK has treaty obligations. US authorities have always made clear their concerns about the possible restoration of a settled civilian population in the territory which, they have said "would severely compromise Diego Garcia's unparalleled security and have a deleterious impact on our military operations." In October 2010, the US reconfirmed that they remained concerned about the implications of any resettlement of the outer islands.
	My officials keep in close contact with their Ministry of Defence counterparts over British Indian Ocean Territory issues.

Indonesia: Religious Freedom

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the treatment of Christians in Bekasi and other areas of West Java; and whether he has had recent discussions with the Indonesian government on religious freedom for minorities in Indonesia.

Jeremy Browne: We are aware of recent reports of threats and attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia.
	We regularly raise freedom of religion with the Government of Indonesia. In a meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister at the Asia-Europe meeting in Brussels on 4 October, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister stressed the need for Indonesia to address concerns about religious freedom in the light of attacks on Christians and the Ahmadiyya community.
	With strong support from the UK, freedom of religion was included as a substantive item on the agenda of the first EU-Indonesia Human Rights Dialogue on 29 June.

Israel: Military Aid

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on the  (a) export of components for F-16 aircraft and Apache helicopters (i) to Israel and (ii) to the US for incorporation in military equipment to be supplied to Israel and  (b) other military exports to Israel.

Alistair Burt: All export licence applications for the export of military equipment to Israel are assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Further details about UK military exports to Israel and all other destinations are available in the UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report.

Israel: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the progress of Israel's application to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Alistair Burt: We can confirm Israel joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in May 2010.

Israel: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer to the then Member for Milton Keynes South West of 18 March 2010,  Official Report, column 973W, on the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and Development: Israel, what further progress has been made in resolving the outstanding issues relating to the scope of statistical data provided by the Israeli authorities to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and Development.

Alistair Burt: Israeli accession to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OECD) does not demonstrate an acceptance of illegal settlements or stand in the way of Palestinian statehood. Israel put forward statistics which include areas which are deemed by the UK and the wider international community to be occupied territory. However, the OECD Secretariat have included the following footnote regarding Israeli data in all pre- and post-accession reports that use Israeli data. The UK worked to agree this with EU and OECD partners in order to ensure clarity on the status of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
	"This report/review/document is not intended to cover the territories known as the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. However, for technical reasons, it uses Israel's official statistics, which include data relating to the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It is without prejudice to positions regarding those territories, which most members of the international community regard as occupied territory under the terms of international law."

Palestinians: International Assistance

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

Alan Duncan: I have been asked to reply.
	There are several recent reports on the economic situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), but none specifically on Gaza. These include reports produced by the World Bank, IMF and Palestinian Authority for the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee meeting of the donor support group to the Palestinian Authority, held in September.
	The World Bank report 'The Underpinnings of the Future Palestinian State: Sustainable Growth and Institutions' is available at:
	www.worldbank.org
	on the west bank and Gaza page.
	The IMF report 'Macroeconomic and Fiscal Framework for the West Bank and Gaza: Sixth Review of Progress' is available at:
	www.imf.org
	on the west bank and Gaza page.
	The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics also produces regular reports on various aspects of the economy in the OPTs, such as employment figures and activity of various sectors, which are available on their website at:
	www.pcbs.gov.ps

Poland: Political Parties

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the activities of the Law and Justice Party in Poland; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: I receive regular reporting from our embassy in Poland covering the political and economic situation in Poland, including on the policies and performance of all leading political parties in Poland. This includes the Law and Justice Party who form the main opposition.

UN Security Council

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received on the membership of the UN Security Council.

Henry Bellingham: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has discussed reform of the United Nations Security Council with several of his counterparts. Both he and I have spoken about this with a number of interlocutors including during the United Nations Ministerial Week in September.
	The UK's support for reform of the Security Council is clear. In his speech on 1 July, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said that
	"this Government will be at the forefront of those arguing for the expansion of the United Nations Security Council."
	The UK wants a Security Council that is more representative of the modern world
	while no less effective in taking decisions to maintain international peace and security.

UN Women

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his UN counterparts on the appointment of Michelle Bachelet as the Executive Director of UN Women.

Henry Bellingham: This appointment, like other Under Secretary-General positions within the UN Secretariat, is at the discretion of the Secretary-General. In line with standard procedures for UN senior appointments, the Secretary-General called for nominations from member states highlighting the skills required for the position and then interviewed a short-list before making his selection.
	We welcome the Secretary-General's choice of Michelle Bachelet as the head of UN Women. As a former Head of State, she brings with her experience at the highest political level coupled with an impressive track record of work on women's rights. I look forward to working with Ms Bachelet as she takes forward UN Women's work in promoting equality and women's empowerment in developing and developed countries alike.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Apex Communications

Bob Russell: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how much was paid to Apex Communications for services provided to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) since its inception; how many hours work were carried out by Apex Communications; what the  (a) commencement and  (b) concluding date was of the contract with Apex Communications; and what mechanism was used to select Apex Communications to provide communications services for IPSA.

Charles Walker: Apex Communications was paid £69,375 for work conducted between October 2009 and July 2010. Apex worked an average of 100 hours a month providing services to IPSA. In September 2009, IPSA's implementation team held a competition after identifying, researching and approaching three corporate communication agencies with an invitation to tender for a contract to provide communications support to IPSA. Following this competition, the contract was awarded to Apex Communications.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Bank of England

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on how many occasions he has met the governor of the Bank of England since May 2010; and what the duration was of each such meeting.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government are committed to publishing details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations and individuals on a quarterly basis. Information for the period 12 May to 31 July 2010 is currently being collated and will be published shortly.

Departmental Manpower

Tom Harris: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the  (a) number and  (b) seniority of civil servants in his office.

Nicholas Clegg: As with support to all Ministers, staffing arrangements in my office are kept under continual review in order to reflect Government priorities.

General Election 2010: Fraud

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he received reports of people registered to vote in more than one constituency who voted more than once in the last general election.

Mark Harper: Information about whether individuals have registered in more than one constituency is not collected centrally. It has been a longstanding feature of the electoral register that some people are legitimately registered in two places; however, it is an offence, subject to a fine of up to £5,000, to vote more than once at an election for the same body. A person may not therefore vote twice in a UK General election or European Parliamentary election, but may do so in different local elections where they are validly registered.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes he expects to be built by the public sector in the next 12 months.

Andrew Stunell: We recognise that many people are struggling to afford a suitable home. We are reviewing the options for providing affordable housing in the context of the spending review.

Aggregates

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions he has had with local authorities on the steps to be taken should such authorities not nominate sand and gravel extraction sites sufficient to meet targets set by his Department.

Bob Neill: None. However, when we revoked regional strategies on 6 July we made it clear that minerals planning authorities will have responsibility for continuing to plan for a steady and adequate supply of aggregate minerals to support economic growth. They should do this within the longstanding arrangements for minerals planning. Technical advice provided by the aggregate working parties, including their current work in sub-apportioning this Department's guidelines for 2005-20 to mineral planning authority level will assist with this. Planning authorities can choose to use alternative figures for their planning purposes if they have new or different information and a robust evidence base.

Aggregates

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on  (a) the factors to take into account in determining their mineral extraction plans and  (b) the safe operational margins required between sand and gravel diggings and (i) domestic properties, (ii) schools and (iii) areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Bob Neill: The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 makes it clear that a local authority must have regard to national policy when preparing development plan documents. For mineral extraction plans this will include Planning Policy Statement 12 and the Minerals Policy Statements, Minerals Policy Guidance notes and accompanying guidance as appropriate.
	There is no national planning policy for safe operational margins in England. Councils are responsible for deciding the appropriate distance between the boundary of mineral sites and the nearest community. However, Minerals Policy Statement 2 states that in some circumstances mineral planning authorities should consider the need to require separation distances for new or extended permissions for mineral extraction close to residential property to ensure adequate protection to nearby residents.
	Minerals Policy Statement 1 states that new major mineral developments should not be permitted in areas of outstanding natural beauty, except in exceptional circumstances. Because of the serious impact that major mineral developments may have, applications for these developments should be subject to the most rigorous examination and must meet additional tests. There are however, a number of mineral sites in existence with long standing planning permissions that were granted before Minerals Policy Statement 1 was in place.

Allotments

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what area of land in each local authority area had been allocated for allotment use on the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: Information on the amount of land each local authority allocates for allotment use is not held centrally. Local authorities are not required to provide central Government with comprehensive data on green space as this would be burdensome.

Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he has taken to reduce the incidence of anti-Semitism since his appointment; what such steps he plans to take in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: The Department of Communities and Local Government chairs the cross-Government working group to tackle anti-Semitism and plans to publish a three-year progress report on the implementation of the recommendations of the All Party Inquiry into anti-Semitism in December 2010. The cross-Government working group will continue to meet over the next 12 months to tackle anti-Semitism and any other issues of concern to the Jewish community.

Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Jewish community on reducing the incidence of anti-Semitism; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: I met representatives of the Community Security Trust in September 2010 where the issue of reducing the incidence of anti-Semitism was discussed. I also attended the All Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Semitism breakfast in May 2010 where issues concerning the Jewish community were discussed.

Audit Commission

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the financial effect on the Audit Commission pension fund of his decision to close the Audit Commission.

Bob Neill: The effect of disbanding the Audit Commission on its pension fund will depend on the options adopted for making these changes, including the option chosen for moving the commission's in-house audit practice into the private sector. Working with the commission and other partners, we are currently considering a range of options.

Audit Commission

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he consulted trade unions  (a) before and  (b) after his decision to close the Audit Commission.

Bob Neill: When we announced, on 13 August, our plans to disband the Audit Commission, we made clear that we would be working with the commission and other partners to develop the detailed options for making this change. We are currently doing this and, on 10 November, I am meeting Prospect, the trade union representing the majority of Audit Commission employees.

Audit Commission

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what date he was informed of the pension and redundancy liabilities arising from the closure of the Audit Commission.

Bob Neill: Before my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced his plans to disband the Audit Commission, he was aware that pension and redundancy liabilities could arise and that their extent would depend on the options adopted for making these changes, including the option chosen for moving the Commission's in-house audit practice into the private sector. Working with the Commission and other partners, we are now considering a range of options.

Audit Commission: Plants

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Audit Commission  (a) entered into and  (b) renewed contracts for pot plant (i) maintenance and (ii) leasing in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10.

Bob Neill: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to my hon. Friend direct.
	 Letter from Andy McKeon, dated 18 October 2010:
	Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me to reply on behalf of the Chief Executive who is currently on annual leave.
	The Audit Commission entered into a three year contract with Flora-Tec for the lease and maintenance of internal plants on 1 January 2006, with an option to extend for a further period.
	The contract was extended by a further year on 1 January 2009 and again on 1 January 2010.
	The contract was terminated in September 2010.
	A copy of this letter will appear in Hansard.

Audit Commission: Publications

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he has provided to the Director of Communications of the Audit Commission on publishing analyses of Government policy.

Bob Neill: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to respond to my hon. Friend direct.
	 Letter from Andy McKeon, dated 18 October 2010:
	Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me to reply on behalf of the Chief Executive who is currently on annual leave.
	The Audit Commission no longer employs anyone in the role of Director of Communications or equivalent.
	Employees of the Audit Commission are required at all times, under the terms of their employment, to act in a way that ensures the Commission's integrity, impartiality and independence is maintained.
	A copy of this letter will appear in Hansard.

Construction: Architecture

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department issues to developers on requirements to construct buildings that are appropriate to the architectural heritage of a local area; and whether he has plans to bring forward proposals to amend building regulations relating to such requirements.

Bob Neill: Planning Policy Statement 5 (Planning for the Historic Environment) includes policy principles about the need for new development to take account of the local historic environment. It is supported by a PPS Practice Guide prepared by English Heritage. Detailed guidance on design and the historic environment is available from English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011.

Bob Neill: The Department estimated a target emissions rate of 6,848(1) tonnes of carbon dioxide between 1 May and 31 August 2010 in order to meet the Prime Minister's target to reduce emissions from offices by 10% by May 2011. The actual reported emissions were 6,452 tonnes. September data is currently being collated.
	The Department has already undertaken a range of actions to help meet the 10% emissions reduction target, including estate rationalisation, installing high efficiency lighting, and reducing operating hours of major plant and equipment. Further planned activity includes fitting boiler optimiser controls and voltage reduction equipment, reducing heating and cooling set points and installing additional automated meter reading devices across the estate.
	I also refer my hon. Friend to the cost saving measures highlighted in my Department's press release of 30 September 2010.
	(1) The figures cover CLG Group emissions as the Prime Minister's 10% target applies to CLG Centre, the Government Office network, executive agencies and executive non-departmental bodies.

Departmental Contracts

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what contracts his Department has awarded to voluntary sector organisations in the last two years; and what the monetary value was of each such contract.

Bob Neill: The information requested is not held centrally and could be supplied only at disproportionate cost. However, as part of the new Government's transparency agenda, grants spending data for 2008-09 and 2009-10 can be found on the Department's website.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

Bob Neill: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my noble Friend, Baroness Warsi on 20 May 2009,  Official Report, column WA322.
	Since that answer was given no bottled mineral water has been purchased by the Department.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many officials his Department has appointed on a fixed-term contract since 7 May 2010.

Bob Neill: Between 7 May and 30 September 2010, eight individuals have been appointed through fixed term appointments to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Departmental NDPBs

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has for changes to the  (a) remit and  (b) functions of each of his Department's non-departmental public bodies; what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of (i) pension liabilities, (ii) redundancies, (iii) changes to contracts, (iv) transferring functions and (v) other winding-up costs consequent on implementing such changes in respect of each non-departmental public body; and what estimate he has made of the likely effects on his Department's budget of those changes on each non-departmental public body in each of the next three years.

Bob Neill: I refer the hon. Member to the Minister for the Cabinet Office's statement on the Public Bodies Review Programme on 14 October 2010,  Official Report, column 505-06. A copy of the list was placed in the Library of the House and the Vote Office. The changes to CLG's bodies will substantially increase accountability and transparency for the remaining functions.
	All of the changes proposed to the Department's public bodies will be delivered within CLG's spending review settlement and, where appropriate, be subject to the outcome of that, impact assessment and consultation.

Departmental Plants

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department  (a) entered into and  (b) renewed contracts for pot plant (i) maintenance and (ii) leasing in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10.

Bob Neill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 14 September 2010,  Official Report, columns 1027-28W. The departmental pot plant contract, initiated by the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, has now been cancelled.

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid a salary.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and Local Government engaged 28 interns over the 12 month period to 30 September 2010. None of the engagements were unpaid, six were placed from the Government Legal Intern Programme on two week contracts and were paid £180 per week. The remaining 22 interns were all paid above the national minimum wage for the period of their placements.

Empty Dwelling Management Orders

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty dwelling management orders each local authority has obtained since such orders were introduced.

Grant Shapps: Number of Empty Dwelling Management Orders issued in each local authority since they were introduced is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Authority  Number of EDMOs 
			 Bolton BC 2 
			 Carlisle DC 2 
			 LB Bromley 1 
			 LB Hammersmith and Fulham 1 
			 LB Hounslow 1 
			 LB Lewisham 7 
			 New Forest DC 1 
			 Norwich CC 6 
			 Oxford City Council 1 
			 Peterborough CC 2 
			 South Gloucestershire Council 1 
			 South Norfolk DC 1 
			 South Oxfordshire DC 1 
			 South Tyneside BC 1 
			 Southend on Sea 3 
			 Staffordshire Moorlands DC 1 
			 Stockton on Tees Council 1 
			 Swale BC 1 
			 Wolverhampton City Council 1 
			 Wychavon DC 1

EU Grants and Loans

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has for the  (a) collection and  (b) distribution of EU structural funds after the implementation of his proposals to replace regional development authorities with local enterprise partnerships.

Bob Neill: We are currently considering the future arrangements for running European Regional Development Fund programmes across England, after the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies, and we will make an announcement when the decision has been reached.

Fire Services

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department has taken to end the FireControl Project.

Bob Neill: As with all major Government projects FiReControl is being reviewed to ensure value-for-money for the taxpayer. We have activated a milestone in our contract with EADS (now branded as Cassidian) that requires them to deliver the main IT system in three Control Centres by mid-2011. We have been clear that EADS must deliver to time, cost and quality. This Government are not prepared to pour any more taxpayers' money into funding their further delays, nor can they cut any corners in the quality of the system they deliver.

Fire Services: Accountability

Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  whether he has considered the merits of introducing elected fire commissioners;
	(2)  whether he has discussed with the Secretary of State for the Home Department the merits of creating jointly-elected fire and policing commissioners.

Bob Neill: There are no plans to introduce elected fire commissioners and there have been no discussions with the Home Office to create jointly elected fire and policing commissioners.

Fire Services: Finance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to review the funding criteria for Fire Brigade services with large industrial conurbations.

Bob Neill: The consultation on Local Government Finance Formula Grant Distribution closed on 6 October 2010. Ministers will take into account all the representations that have been received when making decisions about changes to the formula grant distribution system ahead of the 2011-12 settlement.
	The existing fire and rescue relative needs formula, used in the distribution system, includes an indicator based on the number of top tier Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) sites per head. There was no consultation proposal to change this.

Fire Services: Finance

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the monthly running costs of empty regional fire control centres.

Bob Neill: The control centres are currently being used for a range of activities in preparation for the FiReControl system going live.
	The following table gives the most recent estimate of the monthly running costs of the control centres.
	
		
			  £ 
			 North East 150,434.00 
			 East Midlands 155,835.00 
			 South West 156,267.00 
			 South East 171,434.00 
			 West Midlands 169,243.00 
			 North West 155,620.00 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 153,965.00 
			 East of England 168,338.00 
			 London (1)126,874.00 
			  Note:  The building in London was completed on 26 February 2010 and is rent free until 26 November 2010. This figure is the average monthly running cost for 2010-11. The monthly estimated running cost from December 2010 is £268,320.

Fire Services: Finance

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of the FireControl Project.

Bob Neill: The current estimate of the cost of the FiReControl Project is £423 million. As with all major Government projects, it is being reviewed to ensure value for money for the taxpayer.

Fire Services: Redundancy

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many fire fighters in  (a) Gloucestershire and  (b) England have been made redundant in each of the last five years.

Bob Neill: The number of fire fighters who were made redundant in Gloucestershire and England for the period 2006-07 to 2009-10 is shown in the table. The number of redundancies in fire and rescue services was not collected prior to 2005-06 and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Fire fighters made redundant in Gloucestershire and England, 2006-07 to 2009-10 
			  Number 
			   2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			  Whole-time fire fighters 
			 Gloucestershire England 0 0 0 0 
			 England 0 13 2 1 
			  
			  Retained duty system fire fighters 
			 Gloucestershire 0 0 0 0 
			 England 0 0 0 14 
			  Source:  Fire and Rescue Service Annual Returns to CLG.

Government Offices for the Regions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons he decided to bring forward the consultation period on redundancies at the Government Office network after announcing its closure.

Greg Clark: The Secretary of State's announcement on 22 July made clear that final decisions regarding the future of the Government offices will be made at the end of the spending review following consideration of consequential issues. As a final decision has not yet been announced, formal consultation has not taken place and has not been brought forward. Officials have met, on an informal basis, with Government office trades union colleagues to jointly plan how best to prepare and respond if the in principle decision to close the network is confirmed. They will continue to work together to ensure that we are best placed to address the people issues that will arise from any final decision to close the GO Network. Any decisions on the redeployment or release of staff will be made once the spending review is complete and GO trades unions will at that point be formally consulted.

Government Offices for the Regions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations he had received in favour of  (a) closing and  (b) maintaining the Government Office Network prior to his announcement to close it.

Greg Clark: On 22 July the Secretary of State announced the Government's intention in principle to abolish the remaining Government offices. Prior to this announcement the Secretary of State received a number of representations in favour of maintaining Government offices. A number of representations supporting the case for closing Government offices were received in reply to a letter from my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps) to local authority chief executives and leaders of 28 May asking for their ideas on reducing the burden on local government.

Government Offices for the Regions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to reallocate responsibility for functions provided by the Government Office Network following its closure; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of that reallocation.

Greg Clark: On 22 July the Government announced their intention in principle to abolish the remaining Government Offices subject to consideration of consequential issues, including which Government Office functions need to continue. The Spending Review process is being used to test which activities should continue, and to decide the most cost-effective way of doing this. The final decisions on the future of the Government Office Network, including the transfer of on-going functions, will be announced at the end of the Spending Review.

Housing: Construction

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many houses he expects to be completed in  (a) 2010,  (b) 2011 and  (c) 2012.

Andrew Stunell: Communities and Local Government does not produce forecasts for house building.
	The latest statistics on house building completions in England were published in the Communities and Local Government statistical release of 19 August 2010 and accompanying live tables. The web links are show as follows:
	Link to House Building Statistics Release:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/housebuildingq22010
	Link to House Building Live Tables:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/housebuilding/livetables/

Housing: Construction

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) public and  (b) private sector dwellings have received planning permission for each of the next three years.

Bob Neill: The information requested is not held centrally.

Housing: Construction

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to introduce incentives to build new homes.

Grant Shapps: We are committed to increasing housing supply and seeing more of the homes that people want, in the places that people want them, to meet Britain's housing need. The coalition agreement makes a clear commitment to replace centrally imposed targets with powerful incentives for local authorities so that people see the real benefits of growth.
	We have acted quickly to scrap and replace the previous Government's ineffective failed top-down target system.
	In a letter to council leaders on 9 August I set out my intention to introduce the cornerstone of this new system, the New Homes Bonus. This will shift power back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils and give local communities a direct and substantial share in growth rather than just absorbing the costs.
	A copy of this letter was sent to all MPs and placed in the Library of the House.
	We will introduce the scheme early in the spending review following a consultation on the specific scheme design.

Housing: Empty Property

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to amend the list of named public authorities in the schedules to the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980 to enable members of the public to request that publicly-owned abandoned property be brought back into use.

Greg Clark: Under part 10 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 the Secretary of State has the power to make a direction that specific public bodies take steps to dispose of the interest held by them in land. The public bodies to which part 10 applies are set out in schedule 16 of the Act. The Secretary of State may add, amend or delete bodies from schedule 16, following notification to the bodies and allowing time for representations to be made. The Government are looking at amending this list in the near future to include more bodies, as part of a wider initiative to get empty government property back into productive use.

Housing: Energy

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to encourage the building of new housing stock using energy efficient construction standards.

Andrew Stunell: Communities and Local Government encourages the building of energy efficient housing through the requirements of part L (conservation of fuel and power) of the building regulations. The most recent changes to part L standards introduced on 1 October 2010 require a 25% improvement for every new home. Further changes to strengthen standards in part L and take the next step towards zero carbon buildings are planned for 2013. The Government have announced that a minimum fabric energy efficiency standard will form part of their approach to ensuring that all new homes post-2016 can be zero-carbon.
	The Code for Sustainable Homes, which is a voluntary set of standards reaching beyond building regulations, also encourages high levels of energy efficiency. The 2010 revisions to the Code for Sustainable Homes are expected to be published shortly; thereafter the Government plan to review the future role of the code.

Land Use

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Grade 1 agricultural land has been built on in the last 10 years.

Andrew Stunell: The most recent available estimates from Communities and Local Government's Land Use Change Statistics show that in the period 2003-08, around 1,500 hectares of grade 1 agricultural land changed to a developed use. In the same period, in total some 67,000 hectares of land changed to a developed use.

Local Development Frameworks

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on the use of population projections issued by the Office for National Statistics in amending their local development frameworks.

Bob Neill: The following documents refer to population projections issued by the Office for National Statistics when producing development plans:
	Employment Land Reviews Guidance Note, published 2004;
	Strategic Housing Market Assessments Practice Guidance, published 2007;
	Planning Policy Statement 4 on Sustainable Economic Growth, published 2009; and
	Planning for Town Centres: Practical Guidance on Need, Impact and the Sequential Approach, published 2009.
	Planning Policy Statement 3 on Housing, reissued 2010, advises local authorities they should take account of, amongst other things, the Government's latest household projections. These are derived from the latest Office for National Statistics population projections.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to ensure that all parts of the country are represented by local enterprise partnerships.

Bob Neill: Local enterprise partnerships have an important role to play in delivering the right business environment in which private sector jobs and enterprise can flourish. As strategic partnerships of local business and councils, local enterprise partnerships are well placed to create the conditions for businesses to grow and prosper.
	Local enterprise partnerships are voluntary. And, as such, the Government have not mandated their establishment.
	Following the 6 September deadline for local enterprise partnership proposals we received 62 submissions-56 for local enterprise partnerships proposals and six proposals for local partnership working. I am delighted that the proposals cover every part of the country (apart from London where the Mayor and London boroughs have been invited to come forward with local enterprise partnership proposals by 5 November).
	The Government will make an announcement on local enterprise partnerships shortly.

Local Government Finance

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what mechanisms will be in place after the closure of the Audit Commission to protect from dismissal by local authorities auditors who make declarations in the public interest as part of an audit report.

Bob Neill: Subject to Parliament's agreement, auditors of local authorities will operate after the disbandment of the Audit Commission within a new statutory framework, overseen by the profession and the National Audit Office. This will provide for auditors to make public interest reports and will include protections to ensure their independence. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government told the House, we are now working with the Audit Commission and other partners to complete the detailed design of these new arrangements.

Local Government Finance

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities were audited by  (a) the district auditor and  (b) private companies in each of the last three years; and if he will make an estimate of the monetary value of (i) the accounts audited by each type of auditor and (ii) the cost to the public purse of the work undertaken on such accounts by each type of auditor in each such year.

Bob Neill: The information requested, which has been provided by the Audit Commission, is set out in the following table:
	
		
			   2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			   District Auditor  Private Company  District Auditor  Private Company  District Auditor  Private Company 
			 Number of local authorities audited 249 139 263 125 245 108 
			 Estimated total gross revenue expenditure(1) (£ billion) 86 41 90 40 98 40 
			 Estimated total audit fees(2) (£ million) 45 24 49 24 50 22 
			 (1) For the estimated monetary value of the accounts audited, the information provided is the estimated gross revenue expenditure by authorities, as would be shown in the net cost of services section of an authority's Income and Expenditure account. (2) For the estimated monetary value of the cost to the public purse of the work undertaken on those accounts, the information provided is the audit fees charged by the Commission to local authorities, excluding value added tax.

Local Government: North West

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the change in the number of jobs in the local government sector in the North West arising from reductions in central government expenditure.

Bob Neill: Savings in local government expenditure-and the implications of those savings-are being considered as part of the Spending Review. It is for individual councils to make local decisions about how their workforces are organised and managed to deliver efficient services for local taxpayers.

Local Government: Public Consultation

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to encourage the use of best practice in the transfer of local authority facilities to community control.

Greg Clark: The Government are funding the Asset Transfer Unit (ATU) to promote best practice in asset transfer to communities and to support 20 local authorities and their community sector partners to develop asset transfer strategies and projects through the final year of the Advancing Assets for Communities demonstration programme. As a result of the experience gained from these programmes, specialist advice is being produced to support asset transfer to communities, including 'Managing Risks in Asset Transfer' and technical guides on transfer of heritage assets, swimming pools, open spaces and building design. The ATU has also published a Partnership Routemap to make the most of partnership in the asset transfer process; and the ATU website:
	www.atu.org.uk
	includes a 'support map' which provides a visual guide through the asset transfer journey. A video website entitled 'Building Community' can also be accessed via the ATU website and features real-time practice from partnerships comprising councils and communities that are in the process of transferring land or buildings into community asset ownership.

Natural Gas: Storage

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he or officials of his Department have met representatives of  (a) Halite Energy Group and  (b) Canatxx since his appointment.

Bob Neill: We have had no meetings with representatives from Canataxx/Halite Energy Group since our appointment.

Non-domestic Rates

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to reduce the level of business rates; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: The new Government have doubled the level of small business rate relief for one year from October, cancelled certain backdated business rates liabilities (the unfair ports tax), and are also considering the possibility of giving local authorities wide-ranging, discretionary powers to grant business rate discounts. Further support for business will need to be made in the context of our efforts to reduce the deficit.

Non-domestic Rates: Renewable Energy

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made on the proposal in the coalition agreement to allow communities that host renewable energy projects to keep the additional business rate revenue that they generate.

Bob Neill: We will publish a White Paper on sub-national growth soon after the spending review, which will set out the Government's position on business rate incentives, including enabling those local authorities that host renewable energy projects to keep the additional business rates that they generate.

Non-domestic Rates: Renewable Energy

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the average level of business rate payable in respect of onshore wind turbines.

Bob Neill: No estimate has been made of the average level of business rate payable in respect of onshore wind turbines. The rateable value of individual hereditaments can be found on the Valuation Office Agency's website:
	http://www.2010.voa.gov.uk/rli/

Planning Permission

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions he has had with Ministers on the use of technical language in planning applications.

Bob Neill: I have not held any recent discussions with Ministers on this subject. However, I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend that planning applications need to be as clear as possible, so that they can be fully understood not only by the planning authority but also by statutory consultees, the local community, and any other parties who may be affected by the planning decision. It is in everyone's interests to keep technical jargon to a minimum.

Planning Permission

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he issues to planning authorities on the acceptability of technical language in planning applications; what recent representations he has received on the accessibility of planning applications containing such language to non-specialist elected councillors; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: My Department does not issue guidance specifically advising against the use of technical jargon in planning applications. However, it does advise planning authorities to ensure that they fully understand each development proposal before they consider whether or not it should be granted planning permission. Developers are encouraged to provide only information that is relevant, necessary and material to their application, and to keep the volume of supporting documentation to a minimum, so that their proposals are clear. Local authorities have the right to request clarification from applicants during the determination period, and-if these requests are not met to their satisfaction-may refuse to grant planning permission. I have not received any recent representations on the accessibility of planning applications containing technical jargon.
	The new Government are supportive of the Local Government Association campaign against jargon and its 250 banned words from 'Goldfish Bowl facilitated conversations' to the 'wellderly'. And, as outlined in his speech of 6 July 2010, the Secretary of State has pledged to abolish the TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation), such as the IPC, CAA and RSSs.

Planning Permission: Public Consultation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications for judicial review relating to local authority planning consultation activities were made in the latest period for which figures are available.

Bob Neill: The Department does not keep records of such challenges.

Planning Permission: Public Consultation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he issues to local authorities on the consultation required as part of the process to determine a planning application which a local authority has sponsored.

Bob Neill: The consultation required for applications by the local authority is no different from any other consultation that would need to be undertaken by the applicant (except that the council needs not formally consult itself). The relevant procedures are set out by articles 16-18 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010.
	Planning Policy Statement 12 (2008) sets out a requirement for local authorities to prepare a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). In the statement, each local authority should explain the process and methods it uses to achieve effective community involvement in the determination of planning applications.

Public Sector: Maps

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department's public sector mapping agreement will cover definitive footpath maps.

Bob Neill: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 October 2010,  Official Report, column 44W. Local authorities are responsible for maintaining definitive maps, which depict public rights of way including footpaths. Where these maps are based on Ordnance Survey mapping, the production, maintenance and provision of arrangements for inspection of these maps by members of the public will be covered by the terms of the Public Sector Mapping Agreement.

Religious Buildings: Construction

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what planning guidance his Department issues on the construction of places of worship in residential areas.

Bob Neill: We have issued no planning guidance specific to the construction of places of worship in residential areas. Planning Policy Statement 1 'Delivering Sustainable Development' does state, however, that planning authorities should build a clear understanding of the make-up, interests and needs of the community and any interest groups in their areas, some of which may relate to particular values or religion. All these groups should be encouraged to participate in the plan-making process. If a proposal for a new place of worship is made, the application should be decided in the light of policies in the local development framework and any other material consideration.

Repossession Orders

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of domestic dwellings repossessed in 2009-10.

Andrew Stunell: There are two independent sources of data on actual numbers of mortgage possessions: The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
	The Council of Mortgage Lenders latest press release on repossessions is on their website at:
	http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/media/press/2680
	The Financial Services Authority data is available on their website at:
	http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Other_publications/statistics/index.shtml

Second Homes

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the likely change in the number of second homes as a proportion of national housing stock in the next five years;
	(2)  what recent estimate he has made of the monetary value of second homes;
	(3)  what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of housing stock comprised by second homes  (a) nationally,  (b) in each region and  (c) in each local authority.

Bob Neill: I have today placed in the Library of the House, a table giving details of the number of dwellings, the number of dwellings registered as second homes for council tax purposes, and the proportion this figure is of the total number of dwellings for each local authority area in England as at October 2009. The data are also shown by region and for all England.
	The data are as reported to Communities and Local Government by all 326 billing authorities in England on the annual Council Tax Base (CTB) form.
	No estimates have been made of the likely change in the number of second homes as a proportion of national housing stock in the next five years or of the monetary value of second homes.

Urban Areas: Regeneration

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on encouraging town centre regeneration.

Bob Neill: Planning Policy Statement 4 (PPS4): "Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth" sets out national planning policy for economic development, including in town centres.
	PPS4 asks local planning authorities to consider the scope for consolidating and strengthening town centres that are in decline by focusing a wider range of services there, promoting the diversification of uses and improving the environment.

CABINET OFFICE

Cancer: Females

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the five-year mortality rate for females diagnosed with  (a) lung cancer and  (b) breast cancer was in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, October 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the five-year mortality rate for females diagnosed with (a) lung cancer and (b) breast cancer was in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
	The latest five-year survival figures available for (a) lung cancer and (b) breast cancer are for persons diagnosed in 2003 - 2007 and followed up to 2008. The figures for females are presented in Table 1 below, with comparable figures for 2000 - 2004 with follow up to 2005, and 2002 - 2006 with follow up to 2007.
	Survival figures for England published by ONS, for 21 common cancers, are available on the National Statistics website at:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14007
	
		
			  Table 1: Five-year relative survival (%) for females (aged 15 to 99) diagnosed with cancer in England, by period of diagnosis( 1,2,3) 
			   Cancer 
			  Time period  Lung  Breast 
			 Patients diagnosed 2000-04, followed up to 2005 8.2 81.1 
			 Patients diagnosed 2001-06, followed up to 2007 8.7 82.0 
			 Patients diagnosed 2003-07, followed up to 2008 (4)8.7 83.3 
			 (1) Relative survival is the probability of survival (shown here as a percentage) after correction for other causes of death. (2) Because cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, the summary survival estimates for all ages combined (15 to 99 years) have been age-standardised to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time. (3) Breast cancer is defined by the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10) code C50 and lung cancer by the ICD-10 codes C33 and C34. (4) It is not possible to give an age-standardised figure if there are too few patients in a given age group to provide a reliable survival estimate or if very few patients actually died in one of the intervals of time since diagnosis in which survival was estimated. That may happen because survival is very high (there are very few deaths) or because it is very low (most of the patients died). These figures refer to the unstandardised survival.

Chief Scientific Adviser

Julian Huppert: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on how many occasions each Minister in the Cabinet Office has met the Chief Scientific Adviser since 6 May 2010.

Francis Maude: The Minister for Government Policy has met with the chief scientific adviser on one occasion since 6 May 2010. No other Cabinet Office Ministers have met with the adviser.

Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay

Pat Glass: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many civil servants employed on the latest date for which figures are available would be entitled to redundancy payments of the value of six and two-thirds years of annual salary on termination of their contracts.

Francis Maude: The number of individuals who are entitled to redundancy payments of the value of six and two-thirds years of annual salary on termination of their employment could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
	However, the number of staff who would be entitled to an enhancement of their reckonable service of six and two-thirds years (i.e. would receive a pension based on a greater length of employment than actually served) when departing on the current compulsory early retirement terms was at least 36,000 as on 31 March 2009, the latest date for which we have figures.

Departmental Secondment

Ian Austin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff his Department has appointed on secondment since 7 May 2010; and from what organisation each such member of staff has been seconded.

Francis Maude: Since 7 May to 8 October 2010, the Cabinet Office has made 12 inward secondment appointments.
	The following organisations have seconded their staff to Cabinet Office:
	Barclays
	Hampshire County Council
	Hillingdon Council
	House of Lords
	IBM
	Institute of Government
	NHS Direct
	Partnership UK
	PricewaterhouseCoopers
	Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency
	Raceonline 2012

Ministers

Christopher Chope: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate the annual cost to the public purse of the change in the number of Ministers and Whips drawn from the House of Commons since the dissolution of the previous Parliament.

Francis Maude: The number of salaried Ministers is governed by the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975. The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 limits the number of Ministers that may sit in the House of Commons. There has been no change to the legislation.
	On appointment after the general election, Ministers decided to take a 5% pay reduction on the salaries paid to their predecessors and a pay freeze has been imposed for the lifetime of this Parliament.

National Security Council

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) have been held since its inception; when each such NSC meeting was held; how many further such meetings are planned to be held in 2010; and what the cost is of holding each NSC meeting.

Oliver Letwin: There have been 20 meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) since its inception.
	The Council has met on the following dates: 12 May, 18 May, 26 May, 1 June, 8 June, 15 June, 21 June, 30 June, 6 July, 13 July, 22 July, 26 July, 12 August, 25 August, 1 September, 9 September, 23 September, 28 September, 7 October and 12 October. There are currently nine further meetings planned in 2010.
	The National Security Secretariat, which is responsible for organising NSC meetings, does not attach a specific cost to each session. The principal costs associated with the meetings are made up of ministerial and official's time, and secretarial support. Ministers attending the Council are supported by existing resources within their Departments. Other costs are met in the routine discharge of Secretariat's responsibilities in support of the National Security Adviser.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Borders: Personal Records

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the total passenger volumes which would have been achieved under the e-Borders programme to date without carrier exemptions.

Damian Green: There are no carriers who have been exempted from supplying data. Prior to the termination of the contract with the supplier, the e-Borders programme had forecast to be processing 95% of all passengers into and out of the UK by December 2010.

Borders: Personal Records

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings Ministers in her Department have held with representatives of Raythen to discuss the e-Borders programme since the inception of that programme.

Damian Green: There have been no meetings held between this Government's Home Department Ministers and representatives of Raytheon to discuss the e-Borders programme.

Community Policing: Greater London

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department allocated to the Metropolitan Police Service for neighbourhood policing in each financial year since 2004-05.

Nick Herbert: The amounts allocated to the Metropolitan Police Service specifically for neighbourhood policing through the Neighbourhood Policing Fund, including police community support officers funding, are as shown in the table. However, it is for the Metropolitan Police Service to decide how much of its total funding from Government it wishes to spend on neighbourhood policing.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2004-05 17.2 
			 2005-06 21.0 
			 2006-07 58.9 
			 2007-08 94.1 
			 2008-09 96.6 
			 2009-10 99.2

Constitution and Home Affairs

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to her contribution of 7 June 2010,  Official Report, column 179, on constitution and home affairs, what the evidential basis was for her statement that the incidence of violent crime had increased.

Nick Herbert: The statement my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made to the House was based on a range of evidence on violent crime trends.
	Among these were the two main sources of official statistics on trends in crime are the British Crime Survey and Police recorded crime. However, both these sets of statistics are known to have different strengths and weaknesses and provide an incomplete picture.
	It is important that crime statistics are robust and trustworthy so that the public can have faith and confidence in them and this is why we are reviewing how crime statistics should be collected and published in the future.

Crime

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of trends in the levels of  (a) overall crime,  (b) domestic burglary,  (c) vehicle related crime and  (d) violent crime between 1997 and 2010.

Nick Herbert: There are two main sources of officials statistics on trends in crime; the British Crime Survey and Police recorded crime. Both sets of statistics have different strengths and weaknesses and provide an incomplete picture.
	Statistics on the number of incidents from the two sources are published annually in the Home Office statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
	It is important that crime statistics are robust and trustworthy so that the public can have faith and confidence in them and this is why we are reviewing how crime statistics should be collected and published in the future.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from her Department since May 2010; and what steps she plans to take to meet her Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011.

Nick Herbert: The main steps my Department is taking to meet the 10% target include:
	Improve heating controls
	Improve lighting control and fittings
	Replace boilers
	Estate consolidation
	Staff awareness
	Replace/remove inefficient equipment
	Good housekeeping
	Draught proofing and insulation
	Greening ICT.
	The Department produces and sets out publicly progress made and measures taken to deliver the target. This can be found at:
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officials her Department has appointed on fixed-term contracts since 7 May 2010.

Nick Herbert: Since 7 May 2010, the Home Office (excluding its agencies) has appointed 46 members of staff on fixed-term contracts.
	Of these, 27 (including 18 sandwich course students on a one-year placement as part of a degree course) were appointed on fixed-term contracts that were offered and accepted by the applicants prior to the Chancellor's announcement of a recruitment freeze across the civil service in May 2010.
	In addition, 17 undergraduates were appointed under the Fast Stream Summer Development Programme (SDP) and Summer Placement Scheme (SPS), and a further two undergraduates were appointed under the Windsor Fellowship. The SDP and SPS are offered to undergraduates from ethnic minority backgrounds and with disabilities respectively, and the Windsor Fellowship is a Leadership Programme for ethnic minority undergraduates who have been identified as having leadership potential. All 19 appointments relate to the Graduate Fast Stream Programme and were therefore exempt from the recruitment freeze announced by the Chancellor in May 2010.

Departmental Manpower

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) officials of her Department and  (b) external advisers are working on her Department's consultation on the limit to be set on the number of non-EU migrants to the UK.

Damian Green: Four officials within the UK Border Agency are dedicated directly to the limits on non-EU economic migration consultation but they are supported by a number of others, with wider duties in areas such as statistical and economic analysis, legal advice and related policy matters. No external advisers have been working on the consultation.

Departmental Manpower

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) officials of her Department and  (b) external advisers are working on her Department's consultation into the establishment of elected police commissioners.

Nick Herbert: Officials from within the Policing Directorate in the Home Office are leading on the development of the policy to introduce elected Police and Crime Commissioners. This includes a policy team of seven people in the Police Reform Unit, with help and support from others on specific aspects as needed.
	Responses to the Policing in the 21st Century consultation document have been submitted by a range of external bodies. The Home Office has not contracted any external advisers to work on the Commissioners policy.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if her Department will take steps to assess the effects on  (a) equality of incomes,  (b) equality of assets and  (c) equality of access to services of measures relating to its expenditure under consideration in the Spending Review.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office will ensure the relevant equality considerations are taken into account in the context of expenditure under consideration in the spending review, in compliance with our obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Departmental Recruitment

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to recruit staff to senior civil service posts in the next 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: On 24 May 2010 the Government announced a freeze on external recruitment to the civil service. The freeze took effect immediately. The Home Office currently has no plans to recruit staff into senior civil service roles.

Departmental Redundancy Pay

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what severance payment was made to each  (a) Minister and  (b) special adviser in her Department who left office after the last general election.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 16 September 2010
	I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) on 5 July 2010,  Official Report, column 55W, which lists the total severance payments made to Ministers from each Department who left office following the general election.
	Severance payments for paid Government Ministers and other office holders are governed by legislation, specifically section 5 of the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991. Those individuals who leave office under the age of 65 and who do not take up another relevant office within three weeks (six weeks for Opposition office holders at the time of the election) are entitled to receive one-quarter of their annual claimed salary as a severance payment. The total severance payments to all eligible former Ministers and other office holders in the former Government in the Home Office was £73,421.
	This is separate from resettlement grants available to members of Parliament upon leaving the House of Commons.
	The Government publish annually the total cost of special advisers in the form of a written ministerial statement by the Prime Minister. The total cost of severance paid out to special advisers who left office after the last general election will be published in due course.

Departmental Secondment

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff her Department has appointed on secondment since 7 May 2010; and from what organisation each such member of staff has been seconded.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office headquarters has appointed no staff on secondment since 7 May 2010.

Entry Clearances

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations her Department authorises to issue visas to non-EU citizens.

Damian Green: No commercial organisation is authorised to issue UK visas. The UK Border Agency has contracts with two suppliers, VFS Global and CSC Worldbridge, to provide visa application support services overseas. The two commercial partners operate 101 visa applications centres in 48 countries. Their staff have no involvement in the decision-making process, which remains exclusively the responsibility of UK Border Agency entry clearance officers.

Entry Clearances: Skilled Workers

Jo Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the likely effects on the competitiveness of the economy in London of a cap on work visas for highly-skilled migrants from outside the EU.

Damian Green: The Secretary of State for the Home Department has regular discussions with all her colleagues, covering a range of issues, including the forthcoming limit on economic migration.
	Officials from the Home Office and UK Border Agency have worked closely with their colleagues from Business, Innovation and Skills, on all aspects of the policy.

Extradition: USA

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the operation of the UK-US Extradition Treaty.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 13 September 2010
	The extradition treaty will be carefully examined to ensure it is even-handed as part of the review of extradition which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced on 8 September 2010.

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary is not a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: We set out in the Policing in the 21st Century consultation document that we intend to reform Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to ensure it becomes a stronger advocate of the public interest and we will be publishing our response shortly.

Human Trafficking

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many victims of trafficking have been identified through the national referral mechanism since April 2009;
	(2)  how many victims of human trafficking have been identified  (a) nationally and  (b) in Leicestershire in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: Between 1 April 2009 and 30 September 2010 1,048 cases were referred into the national referral mechanism. Of the 857 reasonable grounds decisions made by 30 September 2010, competent authority decision makers found reasonable grounds to believe trafficking had occurred in 534 cases. Prior to 1 April 2009 the UK did not have a national system to track and confirm victim status.
	The Government do not record victims identified by county.

Human Trafficking: Prostitution

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been charged with offences relating to trafficking of female prostitution in London since 1 January 2010.

Damian Green: Figures from the Metropolitan Police Service show that 20 people have been charged with trafficking for sexual exploitation in London since 1 January 2010.

Identity Theft

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has had recent discussions with ministerial colleagues on measures to prevent identity fraud; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: The National Fraud Authority and National Fraud Intelligence Bureau have recently undertaken a review of the threats to the UK presented by identity crime. Building on this review, a multi-agency strategic group, led by the Home Office, has been established to agree and implement a plan to tackle identity crime and will be reporting to Ministers in due course. This group includes representation from across Government.

Immobilisation of Vehicles

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received from private property owners on the effects on them of her proposals to prohibit wheel clamping on private land.

Lynne Featherstone: Since I announced on 17 August the Government's intention to ban clamping and towing on private land, we have received a number of letters and e-mails from hon. Members and members of the public. Issues raised in these letters include concerns about how landowners will be able to control unwanted parking once the ban takes effect and whether other methods of parking control such as ticketing and barriers will be effective in practice.
	Together with the Department for Transport we are considering how best to address these concerns.

Investigatory Powers Tribunal

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions her Department has used its powers under section 67(9) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to enable an appeal against the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: Sections 67(9) and 65(2)(c) and (d) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 are not in force. It follows that no order is in force under section 67(8) of that Act.

Investigatory Powers Tribunal

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

Nick Herbert: The Government consider that the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) fulfils its functions, which are set out in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, effectively.
	This is an important means by which individuals can complain where they think their human rights have been infringed as a result of actions carried out by or on behalf of any of the intelligence services, and in certain circumstances, by certain public authorities. In 2009, the IPT completed the investigation of 125 complaints and claims under the Human Rights Act.

Members: Correspondence

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to respond to the letter from the right hon. Member for Warley of 16 August 2010 regarding Mr Unis.

Damian Green: The chief executive of the UK Border Agency wrote to the right hon. Member for Warley (Mr Spellar) in response to the letter regarding Mr Unis, on 21 September 2010.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 31 August 2010, on Ms P. A. Bello.

Damian Green: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 12 October 2010.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 23 August 2010, on Mr H. A. Suleman.

Damian Green: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 12 October 2010.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 16 July 2010, on Ms S. Sundry.

Damian Green: I replied to the right hon. Member on behalf of the Home Secretary on 3 August 2010.

Missing Persons

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what proposals she has for the provision of future missing person services in the National Crime Agency; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the merits of establishing a single inclusive missing persons service; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 11 October 2010
	The recent consultation document "Policing in the 21st Century" announced the Government's intention to create a powerful new body of operational crime fighters, the National Crime Agency (NCA).
	The consultation document invited views, by 20 September, on the functions that a new National Crime Agency might deliver, in addition to tackling organised crime. A decision on the exact nature of the NCA's future role, in addition to its organised crime and border policing functions, has yet to be made, but one of the Government's aims are to declutter the policing landscape. We are in the process of considering all the responses, including the possibility of including missing persons investigations within the NCA, and my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary has committed to publishing figures on cost and the business case for the NCA in due course.

Missing Persons

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what response she plans to make to the recommendations of the final report of the Missing Persons Taskforce on providing support to families of missing people;
	(2)  what policies will be put in place in the Crime Prevention Agency to ensure that best practice is observed in responding to reports of missing children.

Nick Herbert: Work is currently under way to consider the delivery of missing persons services within the context of the policing framework outlined in the Government consultation document, 'Policing in the 21st Century'. The consultation closed on 20 September and the Government are considering the responses.

Police National Computer

Claire Perry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions errors in records of criminal convictions held on the Police National Computer have been identified in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: This information is not held centrally.

Police: Accountability

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which  (a) chief constables,  (b) police authority chairs and  (c) local authority leaders have indicated support for her proposals to replace police authorities by an elected police commissioner.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office is engaging constructively with key policing stakeholders on the development of our proposals to introduce police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.
	These proposals were set out in the Policing in the 21st Century consultation document, published on 26 July 2010. Formal consultation on the proposals to introduce directly elected commissioners ended on 20 September. Responses have been submitted by a range of policing partners and these will now be considered before the publication of the Government response in the autumn.

Police: Accountability

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the likely cost to the West Midlands Police of the implementation of her proposals for directly-elected police commissioners.

Nick Herbert: We will provide a full assessment of the costs of police and crime commissioners in due course.

Police: Accountability

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of the cost of  (a) the election of police commissioners and  (b) establishing police and crime panels.

Nick Herbert: The Government's Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill will be accompanied with a legislative impact assessment which will set out the estimates of the cost for Police and Crime Commissioners.

Police: Crime Prevention

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her speech to the Superintendents' Association in Cheshire on 15 September 2010, which police forces in the UK have achieved significant reductions in crime alongside reduced police numbers; and what the reduction in the level of crime was in each such area.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 11 October 2010
	In the 12 months to 31 March 2010, when the right hon. Gentleman was Home Secretary, 26 of the 43 police forces of England and Wales had a reduction in numbers of police officers. These police forces and the corresponding changes in recorded crime figures are given in the table.
	
		
			  Forces which had a decrease in police numbers between 31 March 2009 and 31 March 2010 and their corresponding changes in recorded crime 
			   Strength as at:  Change in 12 months  Offences recorded  Change in 12 months 
			   March 2009  March 2010  March 2009  March 2010  2008-09  2009-10   
			  Police force  FTE  FTE  Number  Percentage  Number  Number  Number  Percentage 
			 Avon and Somerset 3,355 3,302 -54 -1.6 138,083 125,899 -12,184 -9 
			 Cheshire 2,180 2,155 -25 -1.1 75,098 67,032 -8,066 -11 
			 Cleveland 1,756 1,724 -32 -1.8 55,092 47,255 -7,837 -14 
			 Cumbria 1,284 1,238 -46 -3.6 30,961 28,333 -2,628 -8 
			 Derbyshire 2,137 2,074 -62 -2.9 73,660 68,005 -5,655 -8 
			 Dorset 1,512 1,486 -25 -1.7 50,648 48,237 -2,411 -5 
			 Durham 1,588 1,507 -81 -5.1 45,073 40,423 -4,650 -10 
			 Dyfed-Powys 1,197 1,195 -3 -0.2 24,114 22,377 -1,737 -7 
			 Gloucestershire 1,372 1,309 -63 -4.6 44,136 38,270 -5,866 -13 
			 Greater Manchester 8,232 8,148 -84 -1.0 283,176 246,416 -36,760 -13 
			 Gwent 1,438 1,437 -1 -0.1 49,169 50,842 1,673 3 
			 Hampshire 3,811 3,748 -63 -1.7 159,403 142,261 -17,142 -11 
			 Hertfordshire 2,172 2,130 -42 -1.9 76,152 70,001 -6,151 -8 
			 Humberside 2,110 2,058 -53 -2.5 89,767 80,663 -9,104 -10 
			 Kent 3,799 3,787 -12 -0.3 121,049 106,727 -14,322 -12 
			 Lancashire 3,753 3,649 -104 -2.8 117,575 107,361 -10,214 -9 
			 Leicestershire 2,363 2,317 -46 -2.0 86,323 81,244 -5,079 -6 
			 Lincolnshire 1,229 1,206 -23 -1.9 49,547 46,927 -2,620 -5 
			 South Yorkshire 3,053 2,953 -101 -3.3 130,172 112,869 -17,303 -13 
			 Staffordshire 2,211 2,161 -50 -2.2 85,237 76,137 -9,100 -11 
			 Suffolk 1,291 1,246 -45 -3.5 46,467 46,447 -20 0 
			 Warwickshire 994 973 -21 -2.1 37,368 33,828 -3,540 -9 
			 West Mercia 2,471 2,391 -80 -3.2 77,443 71,291 -6,152 -8 
			 West Midlands 8,637 8,626 -10 -0.1 227,720 211,399 -16,321 -7 
			 West Yorkshire 5,854 5,758 -96 -1.6 217,236 197,553 -19,683 -9 
			 Wiltshire 1,229 1,181 -48 -3.9 41,468 38,671 -2,797 -7

Police: Essex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department holds information on the number of  (a) male and  (b) female officers of each rank in Essex Police who left their posts voluntarily for reasons other than redundancy since December 2009.

Nick Herbert: The information is collected on a financial year basis and the following table sets out the number of leavers from the Essex Police, excluding those that have been dismissed, for 2009-10.
	
		
			  Police officer leavers (excluding dismissals) from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010, Essex police force, by rank and gender 
			   Full-time equivalents 
			   Male  Female  Total 
			 Chief Officer rank 1 0 1 
			 Chief Superintendent 3 0 3 
			 Superintendent 1 0 1 
			 Chief Inspector 1 0 1 
			 Inspector 15 0 15 
			 Sergeant 46 2 48 
			 Constable 130 28 158 
			 Total 197 30 227 
			 Note: Figures include voluntary resignations, normal retirements, medical retirements, transfers and death.

Police: Finance

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her speech to the Superintendents' Association in Cheshire on 15 September 2010, what her Department's estimate is of the level of reduction that can be made to the police budget without affecting police numbers.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 11 October 2010
	The effectiveness and efficiency of a force can not be judged on the number of police officers it has, rather it is the way those officers are used that matters. It is not for Ministers to decide on how resources are used, but chief constables need to ensure that the police work force is more productive than currently.
	The spending review which reports on 20 October will provide further clarity on future funding for the police service.

Police: Greater London

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the likely effects on police  (a) staffing levels and  (b) detection rates in Greater London of Metropolitan Police Service spending reductions of (i) 10, (ii) 20 and (iii) 30 per cent.

Nick Herbert: The future funding settlement for policing as a whole will be determined by the Spending Review which will be announced on 20 October. Allocations for individual forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, will be placed before Parliament in early December. It would be wrong to speculate on the outcome for specific forces at this time.
	My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, has been clear that the police service must play its part in reducing the deficit. Decisions about the number of police officers, police community support officers and other police staff engaged by the Metropolitan Police Service and how they are deployed within the force are a matter for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the Police Authority.

Police: Helicopters

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will discuss with  (a) chief constables and  (b) the Association of Chief Police Officers measures to improve efficiency in the use of police helicopters through (i) reducing the number of such helicopters and (ii) sharing the use of such helicopters over police authority borders.

Nick Herbert: Hampshire Constabulary Chief Constable Alex Marshall, Aviation Portfolio holder for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), is leading a review into the way police air support is currently provided across England and Wales. The review, supported by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), is looking at a number of options that will improve efficiency in the use of police helicopters, including a reduction in their numbers and sharing them across police authority boundaries.
	The results of the review are being presented to ACPO later this month.

Police: Northumbria

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the potential effects on police  (a) staffing headcount and  (b) detection rates in Northumbria of police service expenditure reductions of (i) 10, (ii) 20 and (iii) 30 per cent.

Nick Herbert: The future funding settlement for policing as a whole will be determined by the spending review which will be announced on 20 October. Allocations for individual forces, including Northumbria police, will be placed before Parliament in early December. It would be wrong to speculate on the outcome for specific forces at this time.
	My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has been clear that the police service must play its part in reducing the deficit. Decisions about the number of police officers, police community support officers and other police staff engaged by Northumbria police and how they are deployed within the force are a matter for the chief constable and the police authority.

Police: Procurement

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration she has given to the merits of facilitating centralised procurement for supplies and information technology for police forces.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 14 October 2010
	Police authorities have overall responsibility for the procurement procedures that each police force in England and Wales uses. However, the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is currently working with key stakeholders in this area as part of the Collaborative Police Procurement Programme (CPPP).
	Key elements of this programme include moving towards a more standardised requirement, and leveraging the buying power of the wider Police Service through central contracts.
	Three examples of centralised national procurement within the area of non information technology (IT) are the delivery of the National Forensic Framework, the recently let National Fleet Framework and the mobile phone contract, which is soon to be awarded. Central procurement activity is ongoing in both IT and non IT areas and includes categories such as uniforms, aviation, body armour, firearms, utilities, language services and IT hardware.
	Within IT a considerable number of services are already provided through centralised procurement. These include contract provision of the police 'Airwave' radio service, Ident1 fingerprint capture and matching, Police National Network (PNN3) and applications such as Holmes2 which is utilised by police forces in major enquiries. In addition, proposals for mandating certain goods and services for policing have been the subject of a recent consultation in the interests of efficiency.

Surveillance

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward proposals further to limit the circumstances in which surveillance powers may be used.

Nick Herbert: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) provides the relevant regulatory mechanism. RIPA provides statutory limitations and safeguards on public authority use of covert surveillance likely to obtain private information. We are working closely with the Communities and Local Government Department and the Ministry of Justice to implement the Government's commitment to further limit local authority use of covert surveillance under RIPA and will announce the detail shortly.

Surveillance

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward proposals to reduce the number of public bodies entitled to exercise surveillance powers.

Nick Herbert: The Government are committed to limiting local authority access to covert surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and will be announcing how best to implement the changes shortly.

Surveillance

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that all interception of communications and intrusive surveillance are authorised by judicial warrant.

Nick Herbert: We have no plans to do so. Interception of communications refers to the interception of a communication during the course of its transmission so as to make it available to a third party. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ('RIPA') requires that, with some exceptions such as interception by consent, this is authorised by Secretary of State warrant.
	Intrusive surveillance is covert surveillance in someone's private home or vehicle. RIPA requires that intrusive surveillance is authorised by Secretary of State warrant (for intelligence agency investigations) or an independent surveillance commissioner (for law enforcement agencies). All surveillance commissioners are required under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to hold or to have held high judicial office.

Telephone Tapping

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the number of  (a) people in Scotland and  (b) hon. Members representing Scottish constituencies identified by the recent Metropolitan Police Service investigation as having been affected by recent telephone hacking incidents.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 13 October 2010
	We have had no such discussions. Information about the numbers and identities of individuals who may have been affected by the telephone hacking allegations which were the subject of recent parliamentary debates is a matter for the Metropolitan Police.

Telephone Tapping

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will publish each item of correspondence  (a) sent and  (b) received by Ministers in her Department in respect of the Metropolitan Police Service's investigation into telephone hacking and blagging since her appointment.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 14 October 2010
	We have received a small number of letters from members of the public on the subject of telephone hacking. Letters from members of the public are treated in confidence and it would be inappropriate to publish such correspondence. In addition, the hon. Gentleman wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister on 2 September and I replied to that correspondence on 8 September. I would of course be happy for the hon. Gentleman to publish that correspondence.

Telephone Tapping

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Ministers and officials in her Department have had discussions with the Metropolitan Police Service on its investigation into telephone hacking and blagging since her appointment.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 14 October 2010
	Ministers and officials in the Home Office have regular discussions with the Metropolitan police on a wide range of issues. These have included discussions on the status of recent Metropolitan police enquiries about phone hacking allegations made in the media in September 2010.

Terrorism

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will undertake research on the level of understanding of the terrorism threat level by  (a) the general public and  (b) staff of central Government departments.

Nick Herbert: The Government Research, Intelligence and Communications Unit (RICU) has undertaken research into the public' understanding of communications about a range of counter-terrorism policies and issues. The data from this research is currently being compiled.
	Previously Home Office commissioned public polling 'Omnibus Questions for Crime Tracker November 2009' includes a section on the public's perception of the level of the terrorist threat. It is available at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/mori-polls-2009/quarterly-tracker-november-20092835.pdf?view=Binary
	The Government do not intend to undertake research on the level of understanding of the terrorism threat level by staff in central Government Departments.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre: Children

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the safety and well-being of children being held at Yarl's Wood detention centre; and what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the detention of children.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency takes very seriously the health and well-being of those in its care. This is particularly true in respect of the small number of children who are detained with their parents for a short period of time immediately prior to their removal after they refuse to leave the UK voluntarily or while checks are being made at the border to ascertain whether they and the adults accompanying them should be admitted to the country.
	Safeguarding procedures in respect of children are kept under constant review across the immigration removal estate to ensure that they are consistent with section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 which requires the agency to carry out its functions having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK. Prior to detaining an individual family, the agency considers medical and welfare needs to assess the appropriateness of detention and any particular support which may need to be put in place for the child. On arrival in Yarl's Wood, on-site social workers from Bedford borough council make their own assessment and monitor the child during the period of detention.
	The Government have made clear their commitment to ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. We are currently conducting a review to consider how this can be done in a way which protects the welfare of children while ensuring the return of families who have no right to be in the UK. The Department for Education, as the lead Department for children, families and safeguarding is closely involved with the review.
	We have already announced that the family unit at Yarl's Wood will be closed as soon as we have identified a credible alternative way of ensuring the departure of families who do not wish to go voluntarily, despite being given every opportunity to do so.

JUSTICE

Corruption: Legislation

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2010,  Official Report, column 686W, on corruption: legislation, if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the written representations on the implementation of the Bribery Act 2010 referred to in the answer.

Crispin Blunt: I have placed copies in the Library together with copies of our replies.

Corruption: Public Service

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 22 July 2010,  Official Report, column 460W, on corruption: public service, when he plans to place in the Library the agendas and minutes of the meetings of the Foreign Bribery Strategy Board.

Crispin Blunt: The agendas and minutes of each of the five meetings of the Foreign Bribery Strategy Board have now been placed in the Library, where they do not meet the exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act under section 31 (law enforcement) or section 35 (formulation of government policy). The information has been provided by BIS in their former role as Secretariat support to the International Anti-Corruption Champion.

County Courts : Public Transport

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of 27 July 2010,  Official Report, column 208WH, what estimate he has made of the maximum reasonable travel time required to travel by public transport to a county court.

Jonathan Djanogly: People should not have to make excessively long or difficult journeys to attend court. However, we must recognise the infrequency with which most people need to visit a court, compared to other public services which they use and travel to more regularly such as banks, schools, supermarkets or hospitals. We must also consider that the majority of people have their own transportation so may not need to use public transport.
	I believe it is reasonable that our court estate enables the majority of people to be within an hour's journey of their nearest court using public transport. I do however acknowledge that for some smaller communities there may be very little or no public transport, which may mean journeys are longer than an hour. For those court users who have particular transport difficulties, courts will try to list those cases at a time to accommodate this. This practice is well established in courts and relies only on the person notifying the court office of their specific circumstances.

Courts: Expenditure

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the likely  (a) additional expenditure incurred by or  (b) savings to HM Courts Service in implementing the results of its review of court services in providing for (i) paid and (ii) unpaid personnel (A) to travel to a new place of work and (B) to stay at their present place of work.

Jonathan Djanogly: On 23 June 2010 the Justice Secretary announced, via written ministerial statement, a consultation on the future provision of court services across England and Wales. The consultation closed on 15 September and the Government aim to publish its response by the end of the year.
	The impacts, costs and benefits of court closures will be outlined within the full impact assessment that will be published alongside the consultation responses.

Courts: Expenditure

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the likely  (a) costs of and  (b) savings in expenditure on maintenance arising from the retention in the HM Courts Service estate of magistrates' courts not proposed for closure as part of his Department's review.

Jonathan Djanogly: Her Majesty's Courts Service is committed to ensuring that there is an efficient and effective estate portfolio to administer the justice system. The impact of potential changes in costs and expenditure on the maintenance of the HMCS estate cannot be confirmed until the announcement of the outcome of the spending review and the outcomes of the court estate consultation process.
	The existing maintenance backlog associated with the magistrates court buildings included in the consultation proposals is around £22 million. If the decision were taken to close all of these courts, then these costs would be avoided. The Government aim to issue the response to the consultation by the end of the year.

Courts: Fines

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much on average was collected in fines by HM Courts Service Fixed Penalty Office in Denbigh  (a) weekly,  (b) monthly and  (c) annually in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The separate identification of fines collected by Fixed Penalty Offices, and specific information on fixed penalties registered as fines, is not collected centrally by HM Courts Service.
	Furthermore, information is not available on the number of individual of fines paid. Therefore we are unable to calculate how much on average was collected in fines in the last five years.
	However, information is available for the total amount collected in financial penalties which includes total fines, costs, victim surcharge and compensation collected, as well as fixed penalties registered as fines at magistrates' courts. This data is not available on a weekly basis.
	Figures for actual total fines paid for the North Wales HM Court Service area are provided;  (b) monthly and  (c) annually as shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Magistrates courts: Enforcement of financial penalties in the magistrates courts, North Wales HM Court Service area, January 2005 to December 2009 
			   Month  Amount paid (£) 
			 2005 - 3,544,394 
			 2006 - 3,944,047 
			 2007 - 3,618,164 
			 2008 - 3,418,049 
			 2009 - 3.281,928 
			 2005 January 372,705 
			 2005 February 243,686 
			 2005 March 302,714 
			 2005 April 268,562 
			 2005 May 273,418 
			 2005 June 375,579 
			 2005 July 229,072 
			 2005 August 170,965 
			 2005 September 374,841 
			 2005 October 312,809 
			 2005 November 289,128 
			 2005 December 330,914 
			 2006 January 315,147 
			 2006 February 294,521 
			 2006 March 395,570 
			 2006 April 416,526 
			 2006 May 414,772 
			 2006 June 332,064 
			 2006 July 317,979 
			 2006 August 359,616 
			 2006 September 269,719 
			 2006 October 300,667 
			 2006 November 293,443 
			 2006 December 234,025 
			 2007 January 281,717 
			 2007 February 307,249 
			 2007 March 271,900 
			 2007 April 269,279 
			 2007 May 310,938 
			 2007 June 305,708 
			 2007 July 333,272 
			 2007 August 304.959 
			 2007 September 248.756 
			 2007 October 323.813 
			 2007 November 423,148 
			 2007 December 237,426 
			 2008 January 341,640 
			 2008 February 277,75 
			 2008 March 245,145 
			 2008 April 330,683 
			 2008 May 319,160 
			 2008 June 322,831 
			 2008 July 289,754 
			 2008 August 320,007 
			 2008 September 248,648 
			 2008 October 288,696 
			 2008 November 242,935 
			 2008 December 191,375 
			 2009 January 186,449 
			 2009 February 206,884 
			 2009 March 349,653 
			 2009 April 252,674 
			 2009 May 231,505 
			 2009 June 278,729 
			 2009 July 260,088 
			 2009 August 231,509 
			 2009 September 304,993 
			 2009 October 337,630 
			 2009 November 348,617 
			 2009 December 293,197 
			  Notes: 1 Magistrates courts submit information on the enforcement of financial penalties using the Debt Analysis Return. 2 The amount paid represents the amount of financial penalties collected by the courts in the given month. 3 HMCS does not collect the number of fines paid or the average fines centrally. 4 Financial penalties data is collected at a local criminal justice boards level. 5 Financial penalties include total fines, costs, victim surcharge and compensation collected in the timeframe stated (fixed penalties registered as a fine will be included). 6 Fixed penalty fines cannot be separately identified. 7 Annual figures may not sum to monthly equivalents due to rounding.  Source: Debt Analysts Return (DAR), HM Courts Service Performance Database

Criminal Proceedings: Legal Aid

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether his Department ring-fences the criminal legal aid budget;
	(2)  what the cost to the public purse was of  (a) civil and  (b) criminal legal aid in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10.

Jonathan Djanogly: Expenditure on criminal legal aid is not ring-fenced but is met from the Ministry's overall departmental expenditure limit. Net cash expenditure on civil and criminal legal aid for the past three years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   2007-08  2008-09  2009-10( 1) 
			 Community Legal Service (CLS) 844 913 941 
			 Criminal Defence Service (CDS) 1,179 1,187 1,205 
			 Total 2,023 2,100 2,146 
			 (1 )Figures for 2009-10 are estimates. The final position will be reported when the LSC annual report and accounts are published.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10 per cent. by May 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice's: change in the level of carbon dioxide it has emitted since May 2010 together with the steps the Ministry of Justice plans to take to meet its target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011 have been published on the internet and can be found at:
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date
	The document 'Scope of 10% Carbon Dioxide emissions reduction commitment' (pages 4, 5 and 14) available through the above link refers.

Departmental Legislation

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many statutory duties were placed on local authorities by legislation introduced by his Department in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Government are committed to reducing top down burdens on local authorities from legislation, guidance and other forms of prescription.
	The Ministry of Justice does not currently hold a central record of the information requested. Collating the information would require a comprehensive review of all legislation, both primary and secondary, enacted by the Department since May 2007 and therefore cannot be provided except at a disproportionate cost.

Departmental Manpower

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) officials of his Department and  (b) external advisers are working on his Department's consultation on the provision of magistrates' and county court services.

Jonathan Djanogly: On 23 June 2010 the Justice Secretary announced, via written ministerial statement, a consultation on the future provision of court services across England and Wales. The consultation closed on 15 September and the Government aim to publish their response by the end of the year.
	A core team is working on the consultation process. This is currently a team of eight, which has been formulated from existing resources within Her Majesty's Courts Service and the Ministry of Justice. The team has been supported by other officials across the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Courts Service as part of their other duties.
	There are no external advisors working on the consultation on court services. We have procured services to conduct travel time analysis and for some small scale social research on the public's use of courts.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many officials his Department has appointed on fixed-term contracts since 7 May 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: Between 6 May to 30 June 2010 (the date of the latest published data) 211 civil servants who were appointed to the Ministry of Justice (including the National Offender Management Service) were on fixed term contracts.

Departmental Recruitment

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to recruit staff to Senior Civil Service posts in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: Future work force plans for the Ministry will be reassessed in light of the outcome of the forthcoming Spending Review settlement. For any future recruitment, at the senior civil service level or otherwise, the Ministry will continue to comply with the restrictions on recruitment announced by the Government on 25 May 2010.

Expert Evidence: Legal Aid

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in respect of how many expert witnesses costs were paid from  (a) civil and  (b) criminal legal aid budgets in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission does not record centrally the costs paid to expert witnesses in legally aided cases. As this information is not readily available it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Immigration

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions the Tribunals Service has received requests from the UK Border Agency to re-send appeal determination notifications from the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and its predecessors in the last 12 months.

Jonathan Djanogly: The First Tier Tribunal-Immigration and Asylum Chamber does not hold the information which my hon. Friend requested.

Judges: Public Appointments

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) Crown Court,  (b) county court,  (c) High Court and  (d) Supreme Court judges were appointed in each of the last three years; what the cost to the public purse was of making such appointments to each court in each such year; and if he will make a statement.

Kenneth Clarke: The following table shows the number of appointments made by type of judge in the last three financial years-information is collated in this way rather than by type of court.
	Costings are not collected routinely in the way requested. However, estimated MOJ staffing costs for those appointments totalled £523,343 in 2007-08, £566,114 in 2008-09 and £580,596 in 2009-10. The Judicial Appointments Commission similarly cannot break down the costs of these particular appointments but they received grant in aid funding of £7.13 million in 2007-08, £8.15 million in 2008-09 and £7.61 million in 2009-10.
	
		
			  Appointment type  2007- 08  2008- 09  2009- 10 
			 Circuit Judge 59 42 75 
			 Recorder 6 75 191 
			 District Judge 23 25 20 
			 Deputy District Judge 40 19 1 
			 High Court Judge 15 14 7 
			 Justice of the Supreme Court (1)- (1)- 3 
			 Totals 143 175 297 
			 (1) Not created until 1 October 2009

Judges: Public Appointments

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) Crown Court,  (b) county court,  (c) High Court and  (d) Supreme Court judges he expects to be appointed in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: Judicial appointments in the Crown court and county courts will be made from existing and future appointment lists of selected candidates depending upon the needs that arise. Plans to create future lists will be established once allocations for Her Majesty's Courts Service are finalised following the forthcoming spending review. It is currently anticipated that there will be two judicial appointments at High Court level and one in the Court of Appeal which are likely to be filled within the next 12 months. A competition has recently been launched to fill two vacancies in the Supreme Court.

Legal Aid

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were granted  (a) civil and  (b) criminal legal aid in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) does not record the number of people who receive legal aid instead it records the number of 'acts of assistance'. One individual may receive a number of separate acts of assistance, and one act of assistance can help more than one person.
	The LSC's figures acts of assistance for civil legal aid and criminal legal aid over the past three years are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Million 
			   Civil legal aid acts of assistance  Criminal legal aid acts of assistance 
			 2007-08 1.15 1.50 
			 2008-09 1.31 1.55 
			 2009-10(1) 1.43 1.53 
			 (1) Figures for 2009-10 are estimated. The final position will be reported when the LSC Annual Report and Accounts are published.

Legal Aid

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many legal practices in  (a) Houghton and Sunderland South constituency and  (b) Sunderland local authority area are to be awarded contracts to provide family legal aid services from November 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: Following the legal proceedings by The Law Society in respect of the Legal Services Commission's (LSC) tender for family services judgment was handed down on 30 September in favour of the Law Society. The effect of this was to quash the family tender.
	The LSC is currently considering the detail of the judgment and its implications, including its grounds for appeal. In light of the judgment, details of awards in the Family Category of Law are not currently available.

Legal Aid

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether provisions exist under the terms of the 2007 Unified Civil Contract for legal aid services for the extension of the contract; and whether his Department has made provision for financial redress to those affected by extension beyond the terms specified in the contract.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is the non- departmental public body with responsibility for the administration of the legal aid fund and the tender process and award of legal aid contracts are operational matters for the LSC.
	All ER (D) 01 (Oct), again in accordance with the contact standard terms and following consultation with the representative bodies. In the circumstances, no question of compensation arises.

Legal Aid: Contracts

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many local providers of legal aid services have received contracts from the Legal Services Commission under the 2010 tendering process.

Jonathan Djanogly: Legal aid contracts for crime services commenced on 14 July 2010. Following the 2010 tender process for this work, 1,740 contracts were let across England and Wales.
	Following the legal proceedings by the Law Society in respect of the Legal Services Commission's (LSC) tender for family services judgment was handed down on 30 September in favour of the Law Society. The effect of this was to quash the family tender.
	The LSC is currently considering the detail of the judgment and its implications, including its grounds for appeal. In light of the judgment, details of awards in the Family Category of Law are not currently available. For civil non-family work existing contracts have been extended to 15 November. The tender exercise will conclude following the finalisation of the current appeals process and the pre-contract verification exercise. Once concluded, the LSC intends to publish the outcome of the tender process on its website at:
	www.legalservices.gov.uk

Legal Services Commission: Contracts

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many contracts to practise  (a) family,  (b) social welfare and  (c) criminal law were awarded by the Legal Services Commission in each year since 2005;
	(2)  how many local providers of legal aid services received contracts from the Legal Services Commission in each year since 2005.

Jonathan Djanogly: Figures for the number of solicitor offices in England and Wales providing legal aid services in each year since 2005 are available and are shown in the following table. Prior to the introduction of the civil unified contract in April 2007 and criminal unified contract in July 2008, legal aid providers delivering services in more than one office would hold separate contracts for each of those offices. In addition, where providers have decided not to continue providing civil legal aid services, they may nevertheless still have an account or accounts with the Legal Services Commission while they continue to deal with their remaining clients.
	
		
			   Civil  Criminal 
			 2005 4,430 2,643 
			 2006 4,101 2,608 
			 2007 3,895 2,510 
			 2008 3,627 2,230 
			 2009 3,585 2,245 
			 2010(1) 3,206 2,137 
			 (1) 2009-10 figures are unaudited. The final position will be reported in the LSC's annual report and accounts 2009-10 which will be reported later in the year. 
		
	
	The breakdown in civil legal aid is shown in the following table.
	
		
			   Not for Profit  Solicitors 
			 2005 441 3,989 
			 2006 469 3,632 
			 2007 458 3,437 
			 2008 n/a n/a 
			 2009 360 2,253 
			 2010(1) 404 2,802 
			 n/a = Information not available in the annual report. (1) 2009-10 figures are unaudited. The final position will be reported in the LSC's annual report and accounts 2009-10 which will be reported later in the year.

Magistrates Courts

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the disposal of buildings used by magistrates' courts which are to close under his proposals on the provision of court services; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: As no decision has yet been taken on closing any court, it would be inappropriate to pre-empt that by undertaking detailed disposal assessments. These will be created following decisions on closures.
	Treatment of capital receipts will form part of the Ministry of Justice settlement from the 2010 spending review. Tide outcome of the review will determine how the disposal programme will proceed.

Magistrates: Public Appointments

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the appointment of magistrates in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: The need to recruit new magistrates is determined annually by local Advisory Committees on Justices of the Peace. The committees take into account projected retirements, resignations, average sitting days, work load and the use of district judges (magistrates courts). No digest of these decisions is created in the Ministry of Justice so there is not a national picture of planned magistrate recruitment available for the financial year 2011-12.

Magistrates: Public Appointments

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many magistrates were appointed in each of the last three years.

Jonathan Djanogly: In each of the last three financial years, the following number of magistrates were appointed.
	
		
			   Number of magistrates appointed 
			 2007-08 1,899 
			 2008-09 1,773 
			 2009-10 1,632

Prisoners

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance his Department issues on the recommended minimum ratio of prisoners to prison officers on duty at any one time.

Crispin Blunt: Minimum staffing levels are set by governors. No central guidance has been issued to governors on a minimum ratio of prisoners to prison officers across the prison as a whole. The Specification, Benchmarking and Costing programme is producing non-mandatory operating models for services operated in prisons, which can include potential staffing models. Governors may use these operating models to inform their decisions about staffing. The programme publishes a full list of the prison and probation services to be covered by the programme, which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Prisons: Drugs

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues on drug addiction services in prisons.

Crispin Blunt: I have had discussions with Ministers in a number of Departments including the Department of Health, Home Office and the Cabinet Office. These have covered a range of drugs related topics, including reforming drug addiction services in prisons.

Probation Service: Manpower

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the potential effects on  (a) staff headcount and  (b) prisoners in Northumbria of Probation Service expenditure reductions of (i) 10, (ii) 20 and (iii) 30 per cent;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effects on prisoner numbers in Northumbria of Probation Service expenditure reductions of  (a) 10,  (b) 20 and  (c) 30 per cent;
	(3)  what recent assessment he has made of the potential effects on the  (a) caseload of Northumbria Probation Service and  (b) provision by that service of (i) court reports and (ii) supervision of people on parole licences of Probation Service expenditure reductions of (A) 10, (B) 20 and (C) 30 per cent.

Crispin Blunt: To reduce the budget deficit, the Government are examining all areas of public expenditure, including the criminal justice system, to see where savings can be made. The Ministry of Justice is discussing options with the Treasury: the outcome of the spending review will be announced on 20 October. Following the announcement, the Ministry of Justice will decide how funding is to be allocated. We will work with probation trusts to ensure that they are able to provide the reports requested by the courts and to supervise offenders sentenced to community orders or on release from custody, in accordance with sentencing guidelines.
	Work to protect the public and to reduce reoffending is a key priority. All probation trusts should ensure that savings are achieved by streamlining administration and improving working practices. Funding should be focused on front line services, to protect the public and reduce reoffending.

Rape: Victim Support Schemes

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what long-term funding he plans to make available to  (a) existing and  (b) new rape crisis centres; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: Decisions on funding for 2011-12 will be made following the comprehensive spending review.

Regulation of Investigation Powers Act 2000

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions there have been under section 1 of the Regulation of Investigation Powers Act 2000 on the unlawful interception of telephone communications since the implementation of that provision.

Crispin Blunt: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for the years 2000 to 2008 (latest available), for offences under section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, for the offence of unlawful interception of a postal public or private telecommunication scheme, is shown in the table.
	The regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 came into force on 28 July 2000.
	Court proceedings data for 2009 are planned for publication on 21 October 2010.
	
		
			  Number of defendants found guilty( 1,2)  at all courts for offences under Section 1(1)(2)(7) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, England and Wales 2000 to 2008( 3,4,5,6) 
			  Offence code 9956 
			   Found guilty 
			 2000(3,4) - 
			 2001 - 
			 2002 1 
			 2003 3 
			 2004 4 
			 2005 1 
			 2006 - 
			 2007 - 
			 2008(6) - 
			 (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. (4) The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 came into force on 28 July 2000 source: www.statutelaw.gov.uk (5) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. (6) The following corresponding offence description is used: Unlawful interception of a postal public or private telecommunication scheme.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the re-offending rate was, expressed in terms of number of  (a) offences per 100 offenders,  (b) offences per 100 re-offenders and  (c) severe offences per 100 offenders, for male offenders with each number of previous offences subject to (i) court orders, (ii) custodial sentences of any length, (iii) custodial sentences of 12 months or less for each (A) group and (B) type of offence in 2008.

Crispin Blunt: The data provided shows the one year reoffending rates for adult males discharged from custody or commencing a court order between January and March of 2008.
	Table 1, which has been placed in the Library, provides  (a) offences per 100 offenders,  (b) offences per 100 reoffenders and  (c) severe offences per 100 offenders, for male offenders with each number of previous offences subject to (i) court orders and (ii) custodial sentences of any length for each group of offence for 2008.
	Table 2, which has also been placed in the Library, provides  (a) offences per 100 offenders,  (b) offences per 100 reoffenders and  (c) severe offences per 100 offenders, for male offenders with each number of previous offences subject to (iii) custodial sentences of 12 months or less for each group of offence for 2008.
	Reoffending rates by disposal should not be compared to assess the effectiveness of sentences, as there is no control for known differences in offender characteristics. While the data for offenders commencing court orders shows lower reoffending rates than offenders discharged from prison, it is important to note that offenders sentenced to prison have on average a higher probability of reoffending based on their previous criminal history.
	More information on the reoffending rates is available from the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/reoffendingofadults.htm

Reparation By Offenders

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what restorative justice pilot schemes his Department  (a) is operating and  (b) has recently completed.

Crispin Blunt: Pre-sentence restorative justice for adults was trialled as part of Government commissioned Crime Reduction Programme Restorative Justice Pilots, which ran between 2001 and 2004.
	We have piloted the Youth Restorative Disposal that allows police officers to resolve minor first-time offences by young people using restorative techniques. The pilot is being independently evaluated and will be considered as part of our comprehensive review of sentencing and rehabilitation.

Squatting: Crime

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to make squatting a criminal offence.

Crispin Blunt: We are considering whether the law in relation to squatting in residential premises should be strengthened and whether there are any enforcement issues.
	Any change to the law would need to be considered against other commitments in the coalition agreement.

TREASURY

Child Benefit

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evidence he took into account in formulating his policy on the reform of child benefit.

David Gauke: The Government consider a wide range of factors when formulating policy and will set out further information on the announcement to withdraw child benefit from higher rate taxpayers at the spending review.

Child Trust Fund: Children in Care

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many looked after and accommodated children in each  (a) parliamentary constituency and  (b) local authority in Scotland received payments from a child trust fund in each year since such funds were established;
	(2)  what recent representations he has received from children's organisations on the ending of child trust funds for looked after and accommodated children;
	(3)  how much the Government has spent on Child Trust Funds for looked after and accommodated children in each year since the inception of that scheme.

Mark Hoban: Statistical information about Child Trust Funds is published on HM Revenue and Customs' website at
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ctf/stats.htm
	This shows that at 5 April 2009 the total number of children who have been reported as being in local authority care and for whom a child trust fund has been opened is 33,158. Information on Child Trust Funds for looked after and accommodated children is not available at parliamentary constituency or local authority level.
	Information is not available on the precise amount of payments made by HM Revenue and Customs to the Child Trust Fund accounts of looked after children. Some of these children will have received the special government payment of £500 for looked after children (reduced to £100 from August 2010). Others will already have had a Child Trust Fund before they entered local authority care and will have been subject to the normal government payments into their Child Trust Funds.
	The Department for Education (formerly the Department for Children, Schools and Families) has provided the following amounts to local authorities in England, and to the devolved assemblies, to fund extra annual £100 top up payments for looked after children:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008-09 1,039,833 
			 2009-10 1,502,786 
		
	
	The Government have announced that, to help reduce Britain's budget deficit, it will end eligibility for Child Trust Funds from January 2011, and therefore stop all government payments. We have not received any recent representations from children's organisations about the ending of Child Trust Funds for looked after and accommodated children.

Civil Servants: Pensions

John Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an estimate of the effect of the implementation of his proposal that public service pension schemes be increased in line with the consumer price index in 2010-11 prices over the course of retirement on the pension of an active member of the Classic section of the Civil Service Pension Scheme aged 40 years who will draw his pension at 60 years after 40 years' service in the scheme with earnings of  (a) £15,000,  (b) £20,000,  (c) £30,000 and  (d) £40,000 per annum.

Danny Alexander: The Government have not estimated the effect of indexing based on the consumer prices index (CPI) instead of the retail price index (RPI) over the course of retirement for specific groups in the public service pension schemes. However, the overall estimated savings in annually managed expenditure for public service pension expenditure were made available in answers to the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs McGuire) on 27 July 2010,  Official Report, column 991W.
	The table shows the likely change in cash terms for each financial year from 2011 -12 to 2016-17 for public service pensioners as requested. It is based on the OBR forecasts for CPI and RPI to 2016-17.
	
		
			   2011-12  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15  2015-16  2016-17 
			 RPI (%) 4.2 3.4 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.5 
			 CPI (%) 2.8 2.6 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.0 
			
			  £2,500   
			 RPI (£) 2,605 2,694 2,774 2,863 2,961 3,064 
			 CPI (£) 2,570 2,673 2,745 2,830 2,920 3,020 
			
			  £5,000   
			 RPI (£) 5,210 5,387 5,549 5,726 5,921 6,128 
			 CPI (£) 5,140 5,345 5,489 5,660 5,841 6,039 
			
			  £10,000   
			 RPI (£) 10,420 10,774 11,098 11,453 11,842 12,256 
			 CPI (£) 10,280 10,691 10,979 11,319 11,682 12,079 
			
			  £20,000   
			 RPI (£) 20,840 21,549 22,195 22,905 23,684 24,513 
			 CPI (£) 20,560 21,382 21,958 22,639 23,363 24,158 
		
	
	Individual public service pension schemes are the responsibility of the relevant administering departments and in the case of the civil service pension scheme this would be the Cabinet Office.

Corporation Tax: Redcar

Ian Swales: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of companies that will be affected by the reduction in small profits rate of corporation tax from April 2011 in Redcar constituency.

David Gauke: No estimate is available for the number of companies that will be affected by the reduction in small profits rate of corporation tax in Redcar constituency.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10% by May 2011.

Justine Greening: At the time of the Prime Minister's announcement in May 2010 an HM Treasury (HMT) assessment concluded that it would be possible to meet its target over the full period.
	Between May and August 2010, HMT's emissions reduced by 4.2%, from 312 tonnes of CO2 to 299 tonnes.
	The latest data on carbon reduction is available online at:
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date

Departmental ICT

Graham Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies has spent on information and communication technology in each year since 1997.

Justine Greening: Spending on information and communication technology equipment and services is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   HM Treasury (HMT)  Debt Management Office (DMO)  Asset Protection Agency (APA) 
			 2002-03 n/a 1.7 n/a 
			 2003-04 n/a 1.3 n/a 
			 2004-05 6.3 1.6 n/a 
			 2005-06 7.0 1.8 n/a 
			 2006-07 7.4 2.0 n/a 
			 2007-08 13.9 2.5 n/a 
			 2008-09 9.8 2.0 n/a 
			 2009-10 16.2 2.2 2.9 
		
	
	In 2007-08 and 2008-09 HMT implemented a programme to relocate the Office of Government Commerce and create a shared IT service for both organisations. In 2009-10 HMT began a programme of investment to update the Treasury Group's IT infrastructure, to improve its resilience and reliability and modernise its services to deliver improved management of information, as well as better collaborative tools and communications.
	Data for HMT prior to 2004-05 and for DMO prior to 2002-03 are not available due to the introduction of a new accounting system.
	The APA was established in December 2009.
	The Royal Mint Advisory Committee has not incurred any spending on information and communications technology.

Spending Challenge Programme

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of establishing and operating the Spending Challenge programme.

Danny Alexander: The Government committed to ensuring this spending review process was open, responsible and fair and to engaging the whole public in the difficult decisions that have to be taken. The Spending Challenge was an important part of this, attracting over 100,000 suggestions from public sector workers and members of the public on how Government can do more with less.
	The cost of establishing and operating the Spending Challenge website was £19,300. Related staff and process costs were met using existing resources and from existing budgets.
	The Chancellor has already announced three ideas submitted to the Spending Challenge by members of the public and public sector workers will be implemented as policy by the Government.
	These ideas are  (a) to reduce the number of CRB checks for Junior Doctors, by taking a more common- sense approach across the NHS, so that junior doctors are not checked repeatedly over a short space of time, saving up to £1 million a year;  (b) to distribute National Insurance numbers to people with a letter rather than a plastic card, also saving up to £1 million; and  (c) to increase the selling of surplus and second hand Government equipment by expanding the use of the Ministry of Defence's eDisposals service for use across all Government departments.
	The Government will continue to highlight where ideas submitted by the public have been taken into account when the results of the Spending Review are announced on 20 October.

Departmental Manpower

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff of his Department were engaged in reducing tax avoidance and evasion in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs deploy compliance officers on a wide range of compliance activities including risk assessment, addressing inaccurate returns and verifying repayment claims, debt collection and criminal investigations across all heads of duty. HMRC have specialist teams to deal with avoidance and evasion once it has been identified and referred to them for a response. These are Civil Investigation of Fraud (CIF), Specialist Investigations (SI) and Anti-Avoidance Group (AAG). For most interventions avoidance and evasion are likely to be finally identified, and escalated as necessary, once an intervention has begun, so it is not possible to identify how many compliance officers we have working solely on the responses to these behaviours. The number of compliance officers deployed by HMRC over the last five years was:
	
		
			   FTE compliance officer 
			 2005-06 39,000 
			 2006-07 37,000 
			 2007-08 34,500 
			 2008-09 32,000 
			 2009-10 31,000

Departmental Private Finance Initiative

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what projects under the private finance initiative are being undertaken in Stevenage constituency; and what the monetary value is of each such contract.

Danny Alexander: A list of operational and in procurement PFI projects can be found on HM Treasury's website at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ppp_pfi_stats.htm
	For each PFI project, this list details the project name, the capital value, the constituency, the procuring authority and whether it is on or off balance sheet; as used by the ONS in calculating public sector net debt.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the then hon. Member for Milton Keynes South West of 18 March 2010,  Official Report, column 1022W, on EU external trade: Israel, how many  (a) cosmetic companies and  (b) importers were targeted for checks; what the nature of the checks was; what documentation was required and from whom; whether the investigations have been completed; and whether any mislabelling has been detected.

David Gauke: For reasons of commercial confidentiality HMRC is unable to say how many cosmetic companies and importers were targeted for checks. However, it has undertaken checks in respect of a range of cosmetic products imported from Israel. So far, two duty demands have been issued in 2010 where the accompanying proof of preferential origin showed that the goods were produced in a settlement. HMRC will continue to make regular checks on imports from Israel which receive preference under the EU-Israel agreement. However, the majority of cosmetic products attract a free rate of customs duty outside of any preferential tariff arrangement.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the contribution of the former Exchequer Secretary on 27 January 2010,  Official Report, column 320WH, whether he has yet received a copy of the reports of the fact-finding mission of the European Commission to Israel and Palestine in 2009.

David Gauke: HMRC has not received copies of reports of the fact finding missions to Israel and Palestine in 2009. However, it understands that in April 2010 the EU Commission provided an EU Council Working Group with a brief oral report of its findings in which it concluded that the 2005 Technical Arrangement is working satisfactorily.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the then hon. Member for Milton Keynes South West of 18 March 2010,  Official Report, column 1022W, on EU external trade: Israel, what progress HM Revenue and Customs has made in checking exports made under the EU-Israel Agreement from settlement companies listed in the 2009 research paper prepared by the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

David Gauke: HMRC has examined customs import declarations from all companies mentioned in the research paper. There were no imports from a number of the companies. For some of the companies that did export goods to the UK, the proofs of preferential origin covering goods indicated that the goods were produced in Israel. HMRC is returning the proofs concerned to the Israeli authorities for verification of the origin of the goods. HMRC has already issued duty demands for goods imported from four of the companies in the paper whose goods have been established as originating in a settlements location.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the then hon. Member for Milton Keynes South West of 10 March 2010,  Official Report, column 676W, on Israel: EU external trade, whether the consignment with commodity code 34013000 is still under investigation; and whether HM Revenue and Customs has received confirmation of its place of production.

David Gauke: Goods covered by commodity code 34013000 are under investigation. HMRC asked the Israeli authorities in September 2010 to verify the origin of three consignments of the products concerned. A response is awaited.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the contribution of the former Exchequer Secretary of 27 January 2010,  Official Report, column 321WH, how many importers have been issued a financial penalty since the entry into force of the new civil penalty provision for persistent claims of preference outside entitlements; what guidance has been issued on the frequency of false preference claims outside entitlements which constitute persistent submission; whether HM Revenue and Customs is recording the false declarations made by each importer which they have detected; and what the policy of HM Revenue and Customs is on checking the imports of importers who have previously made claims outside preference entitlements.

David Gauke: HMRC has published on its website a schedule, taken from the Customs (Contravention of a relevant rule) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, of those situations in which an importer may incur a financial penalty. It supplements the guidance in HMRC Notice 301 on civil penalties in the customs area.
	HMRC also keeps records of false declarations made by importers in respect of the preferential origin of goods. It is HMRC's policy to regularly examine the customs import entries of those importers who have previously made invalid declarations. Demands are issued for the full rate of customs duty, where appropriate.
	HMRC is unable to extract specific information in respect of the number of warning letters and penalty notices issued in respect of the new penalty provision, which came into force in December 2009 for the persistent presentation of invalid proofs of preferential origin.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the contribution of the former Exchequer Secretary of 27 January 2010,  Official Report, column 320WH, which supermarkets HM Revenue and Customs has contacted to explore potential discrepancies between settlement origin identified by the supermarket's internal tracking system and the customs imports declaration.

David Gauke: For reasons of commercial confidentiality, HMRC cannot disclose its dealings with specific UK companies. However, it continues to experience traceability problems as a result of intermediaries rather than supermarkets being shown as importers on customs import declarations. HMRC therefore supports the work of DEFRA in encouraging supermarkets, under voluntary labelling arrangements, to ensure that their suppliers correctly mark the origin of the produce originating in the settlements. This will help HMRC to identify such products at the time of importation.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the contribution of the former Exchequer Secretary of 27 January 2010,  Official Report, column 321WH, what changes HM Revenue and Customs plans to make to the 2005 technical arrangements to ensure compliance with the rules on claims for preference.

David Gauke: The 2005 Technical Arrangement was concluded in the EU-Israel Customs Co-operation Committee by the EU Commission acting on behalf of the European Union as a whole. Consequently, the UK cannot take unilateral action to amend its terms. However, HMRC will continue to immediately refuse, under the arrangement, claims to Israeli tariff preference where a settlements location is shown on the accompanying proof of origin. It will also continue to return proofs to the Israeli authorities for verification where it has doubts about the origin of the goods concerned.

EU External Trade: Israel

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the contribution of the former Exchequer Secretary of 27 January 2010,  Official Report, column 320WH, what steps the European Commission has taken in response to the HM Revenue and Customs request for correct compliance by the Israeli authorities in respect of the precise place of production on the proof of preferential origin.

David Gauke: The European Commission continues to monitor the correct operation by Israel of the 2005 Technical Arrangement. It periodically asks member states for information and concerns in respect of the operation of the arrangement. In the last year only the UK has raised concerns about the possibility that the place of production shown on the proof of origin is simply a head office or distribution centre in Israel, and that the goods concerned may have in fact originated in a settlement. HMRC does not have any information about the Commission's current plans for any bilateral contacts with the Israeli authorities.

EU Grants and Loans

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2010,  Official Report, column 195W, on the European Investment Bank, to which entities the European Investment Bank has provided over £1 million since it was established; and in which country each such entity is based.

Mark Hoban: The information that my hon. Friend requires can be found on the website of the European Investment Bank at the following address:
	http://www.eib.org/projects/loans/index.htm

EU Law: Fines

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on the balance of the Consolidated Fund of financial corrections imposed by the EU for failure to implement requirements of EU regulations.

Justine Greening: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) on 7 July 2010,  Official Report, column 292W.

Excise Duties: Biofuels

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of existing levels of taxation on biofuels.

Justine Greening: Under plans inherited from the previous Government, the 20ppl biofuel duty differential ended on 1 April 2010 for all biofuels (biodiesel and bioethanol) except those produced from used cooking oils, which is currently subject to a two-year temporary extension of the differential. Support for biofuels is provided by the renewable transport fuel obligation, which has a greater environmental focus. The Chancellor keeps all taxes under review.

Government Assets

John Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made towards the target for the disposal of surplus fixed assets set in the 2007 comprehensive spending review.

Danny Alexander: Comprehensive spending review 2007 reported that £18.3 billion had been sold by March 2007. Since then, an additional £7.7 billion has been sold (latest figures to end of 2008-09).
	The coalition Government set out in the June Budget 2010 their approach to managing assets, including a programme of asset commercialisation over the next 12 months.

Guardian's Allowance: Lone Parents

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward proposals to extend the eligibility criteria for Guardian's Allowance to relatives caring for a child in circumstances in which one parent is deceased and the surviving parent is unable to provide financial support.

David Gauke: We have no plans to change the conditions of entitlement to guardian's allowance.

Income Tax: Redcar

Ian Swales: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people in Redcar constituency who will be affected by the increase in the threshold for payment of the basic rate of income tax.

David Gauke: A total of 880,000 individuals are taken out of income tax. However, the information requested is not available at parliamentary constituency level due to small survey sample sizes at this level of geography, and because the information is based on 2007-08 survey data which would not be reliable for this purpose.
	Available information on incomes and tax by parliamentary constituency based on the latest available Survey of Personal Incomes (2007-08) can be found in Table 3.15 'Income and tax by Parliamentary Constituency' on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu.htm

International Monetary Fund

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the International Monetary Fund on  (a) long-term unemployment,  (b) public sector job creation and retention and  (c) private sector job creation and retention.

Danny Alexander: The IMF holds regular bilateral discussions with each of its member countries as part of its country surveillance function, under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement. IMF staff recently visited the UK as part of their 2010 Article IV consultation, and met with a variety of institutions including HM Treasury to discuss issues relating to the economy. The IMF's Concluding Statement sets out its view that the Government's deficit reduction plan will ensure the sustainability of the public finances and support economic growth. The IMF concluded that the early action taken by the Government has increased the credibility of the consolidation and is consistent with a sustainable recovery, in line with the OBR forecasts in the June Budget.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter of 20 July from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on the Rev Father P. Connelly, transferred by the Secretary of State for International Development.

Mark Hoban: I have replied to the right hon. Member.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter of 24 August from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Ms A. Kabdebo-Gedeon.

Justine Greening: A reply has been sent to the right hon. Member.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter of 23 August from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Mr K. Spelmam.

Mark Hoban: A reply has been sent to the right hon. Member.

National Insurance and PAYE

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the national insurance and PAYE system began to operate.

David Gauke: The national insurance and PAYE service went live in June 2009.

National Insurance Fund

Steven Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the reasons are for the difference between the estimates of the surplus of the national insurance fund published by HM Revenue and Customs and the Debt Management Office.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not publish estimates of the National Insurance Fund (NIF) surplus. The actual surplus is recorded in the annual cash-based NIF accounts which are published on the HMRC website.
	The Debt Management Office (DMO) publishes only retrospective data regarding the National Insurance Fund Investment Account (NIFIA) and publishes no forecasts. The UK DMO produces annual accounts for the NIFIA-the surplus disclosed in these accounts refers to the total interest income from the investments held by NIFIA during the period.
	The DMO produced NIFIA surplus is thus different and not comparable to the HMRC produced NIF surplus.

PAYE

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what steps HM Revenue and Customs plans to take to assess hardship in cases where individuals cannot afford to make repayments of underpaid tax as a result of historical errors in the PAYE system;
	(2)  at what rate interest will be charged on underpaid tax owed by individuals as a result of recent miscalculations of tax liability made by HM Revenue and Customs in the PAYE system;
	(3)  at what rate interest will be paid on overpaid tax owed to individuals as a result of recent miscalculations of tax liability made by HM Revenue and Customs in the PAYE system.

David Gauke: It is a normal part of the PAYE cycle that changes in circumstances that cannot be reflected in in-year tax deductions need to be reconciled annually. This is not a Revenue error but the PAYE system not being able to react quickly enough to changes. PAYE works well for the majority of people, particularly those with stable circumstances, but because the processes remain fundamentally unchanged since they were introduced in 1944 there are limitations. The coalition Government are looking at how to reform PAYE further and make it more efficient.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) charge 3% interest on late paid tax and pay 0.5% interest on repayments of tax.
	Following HMRC's recent end of year PAYE reconciliation exercise for the years 2008-09 and 2009-10, amounts overpaid will be repaid together with any accrued repayment interest.
	For individuals who have underpaid tax by less than £2,000 HMRC will where possible collect this through salary deductions by adjusting tax codes. Interest is not chargeable in these cases.
	HMRC has put in place a new process for people with 2008-09 and 2009-10 underpayments that cannot automatically be paid through their salary deductions-generally those who owe £2,000 or more. Individuals in this position will be offered the same length of time to pay as those with smaller underpayments and not face interest, provided they engage with HMRC and agree to pay their underpayment. Individuals who owe £2,000 or more will also have the option where possible of paying up to £2,000 through their salaries.
	People facing financial difficulties in paying will be treated sympathetically and, where necessary, will be able to spread their payments up to three years.

PAYE: Chester

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many residents of City of Chester constituency have been identified as having  (a) underpaid and  (b) overpaid pay-as-you-earn contributions during the recent automated reconciliation of such payments.

David Gauke: The information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as HMRC do not hold this data in relation to MPs' constituencies.

Private and Public Sector: Manpower

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which officials within the Office for Budget Responsibility authorised the publication of the projections for public and private sector employment for the period 2011-2016 published on June 30.

Justine Greening: The Terms of Reference for the interim Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) state that it has discretion over what material it publishes. These terms of reference were agreed between Sir Alan Budd and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 8 June.
	The interim OBR is committed to improved transparency as is set out in the foreword to the OBR's pre-Budget forecast published on 14 June. This foreword set out that the OBR would as far as possible meet requests for further background information.
	The OBR's pre-Budget forecast and Budget forecast published on 22 June provided detailed information on the economy and public finances forecast, including detail on the labour market.
	In response to a number of queries the interim Budget Responsibility Committee authorised the publication of the general Government employment assumptions on 30 June 2010.

Revenue and Customs

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many local tax offices were in operation in each of the last five years; which such offices he plans to  (a) retain and  (b) close; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The number of offices held by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are detailed in the following table. HMRC does not use the classification of "local tax office" and the numbers provided are the total HMRC offices at the beginning of April in each year.
	
		
			   Total number of HMRC offices 
			  1 April:  
			 2005 617 
			 2006 594 
			 2007 571 
			 2008 545 
			 2009 527 
			 2010 446 
		
	
	The Department's Regional Review of its estate concluded in December 2008. In total 258 offices were identified for closure.
	Details of the decisions made regarding each HMRC office, including the chief executive's 13 January 2010 formal announcement of 130 office closures as the final stage of the Regional Review, can be found on HMRC's web-page at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/local/change-programme.htm
	HMRC office numbers since 2005 have been affected by the creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the UK Border Agency (UKBA). The associated transfer of offices to these agencies is in addition to vacations under the Regional Review programme. Following the transfer of HMRC offices to UKBA, the total number of HMRC offices at April 2010 was 446.
	HMRC is currently reviewing its future accommodation needs but has not yet made firm plans for further office closures. However, in a number of buildings HMRC are seeking to take advantage of impending lease break opportunities.

Revenue and Customs: Manpower

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff work in each local tax office.

David Gauke: Most of HMRC's business is organised on national lines and it does not categorise its offices as "local" or otherwise. The total number of full-time equivalent staff in HMRC at 30 September 2010 was 67,498.8.

Revenue and Customs: Telephone Services

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of calls to the Tax Credit Helpline  (a) took over 30 seconds to answer and  (b) were lost in the last 12 months.

David Gauke: Aggregated data on the number of calls to the Tax Credit Helpline that took over 30 seconds to answer is not held centrally. Interrogating the call waiting time data HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does collect in order to provide this information could therefore be completed only at disproportionate cost.
	HMRC does not have a specific measure to identify those calls that are "lost." In this instance, HMRC has interpreted "lost" to mean those calls which were "abandoned" after the customer selected an option from the call steering menu and were placed in a queue to speak to an adviser (i.e. - calls that HMRC Contact Centres have the capacity to answer but the call was abandoned/lost before connection to an adviser). For the period October 9 to September 10, the proportion of calls that were "abandoned" on the Tax Credit Helpline was 17%.

Sheffield Forgemasters: Correspondence

Angela Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether any Minister in his Department has received copies of  (a) written and  (b) e-mail correspondence on the matter of Sheffield Forgemasters addressed to Ministers in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills from Andrew Cook of William Cook Holdings;
	(2)  whether any Minister in his Department received correspondence on the matter of Sheffield Forgemasters from Andrew Cook, of William Cook Holdings, in May or June 2010.

Danny Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 29 June,  Official Report, column 506W.

Social Security Benefits: Greater Manchester

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of benefits claimants in Stretford and Urmston constituency who would be affected by implementation of the proposed cap on benefits of £26,000.

Chris Grayling: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested is not available at a parliamentary constituency level.
	The information is available for Great Britain. Latest estimates show that in 2010-11 there are around 100,000 working age households in receipt of more than £500 a week in all benefits and tax credits, including disability living allowance. If disability living allowance is excluded then around 50,000 working age households are in receipt of more than £500 a week.
	The Chancellor's announcement of a benefit cap was informed by high-level consideration of the broad impacts. We are now working up the more detailed design of the caps as part of the spending review. When we introduce legislation for the implementation of the caps, we shall publish an impact assessment.
	 Note
	All figures are rounded to the nearest 50,000.
	 Source
	DWP Policy Simulation Model, based on the 2008/09 Family Resources Survey data.

State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

David Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an assessment of the likely effects on pensioners in  (a) Blaydon constituency and  (b) the North East of changes to state pension payments from April 2011 consequent on the use of the consumer price index as an uprating mechanism.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government's proposals for increases in the rates of social security benefits including state pensions from April 2011 will be announced to Parliament in due course. As outlined in the emergency Budget the principles by which the elements of state pension will be increased are as follows.
	The basic state pension is subject to a "triple guarantee" that it will be increased by the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5%, with an additional commitment that it will be increased in April 2011 only, in line with the retail prices index (RPI), should that index show the highest growth.
	Someone retiring today on a full basic state pension will receive £15,000 more over their retirement than they would have done under the old prices link.

State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

David Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an estimate of the effect on private pensions payments of uprating them in line with the consumer price index.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply.
	Legislation sets out the minimum increase for defined benefit private sector occupational pensions earned from service after April 1997. The consumer prices index (CPI) will be used to determine the minimum amounts for increasing private sector pension schemes going forward.
	The impact on pensions in payment will vary depending on the rules of individual schemes and the circumstances of the individual. Schemes often choose to pay more than the minimum, for example, paying increases for service before 1997.
	It will also vary depending on how schemes respond to changes to the statutory minimum amounts. Some schemes may, for example, change their rules to adopt CPI as the measure of inflation, but others may choose to stay with RPI.

Tax Avoidance: Business

John Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to reduce the level of corporate tax avoidance.

David Gauke: This Government are committed to tackling avoidance wherever it occurs and will be building in sustainable defences against avoidance opportunities when undertaking policy reform and reviewing areas of the tax system in which repeated changes have been necessary to close loopholes. We are also exploring whether there is a case for developing a general anti avoidance rule (GAAR) for the UK.
	Alongside this we will continue to use intelligence obtained from the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes regime and other sources to detect avoidance schemes early and we will challenge avoidance robustly where we find it.
	The Government announced on 20 September that they will make £900 million available over the spending review period to fund HMRC's compliance activities, both to tackle tax avoidance and to combat tax evasion.

Tax Collection

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the monetary value of uncollected tax revenue in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The recent publication of the tax gap figures for 2008-09 provides a detailed breakdown of the monetary value of the UK tax gap. This being the difference between the amount of tax collected and the amount that, in HMRC's opinion should be collected-the theoretical liability. This document can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/measuring-tax-gaps-2010.htm.pdf
	and evidence suggests that the tax gap is in the order of £42 billion, 9% of the estimated total tax liability.
	With regard to tax debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) on 11 October 2010,  Official Report, column 243W.

Tax Collection

Steven Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy not to support the proposal of HM Revenue and Customs for centralised deductions of tax and national insurance contributions.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published a discussion paper 'Improving the operation of Pay As You Earn (PAYE)' on 27 July 2010. The purpose of the discussion paper was to seek views about potential options to improve PAYE processes.
	The consultation period is now closed and the responses are being analysed. Any further announcements will be made by the Chancellor in due course.

Tax Collection: Enforcement

David Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax revenue on average an enforcement and compliance officer in HM Revenue and Customs collected the last financial year.

David Gauke: HMRC enforcement and compliance officers of all grades are engaged in a variety of compliance activities, which may include the recovery of underpaid tax, the prevention of further tax losses, debt collection and the deterrence of tax evasion through, for example, criminal investigation. For this reason, HMRC does not collect statistics on the average revenue collected by a compliance officer. Results of HMRC's compliance activity were published in their 2009 autumn performance report which can be found at:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm77/7774/7774.pdf

Tax Yields

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of annual tax revenue contributed by  (a) public and  (b) private sector employees.

David Gauke: Estimated total income tax liabilities in 2007-08 of persons in employment broken down by legal status of their employer are provided in the following table. Estimates are based on the 2007-08 Survey of Personal Incomes.
	
		
			  Income tax liabilities( 1)  in 2007-08 
			   £ million  % total 
			 Persons in employment(2) 134,000 82 
			  where main employment is:(3)   
			 public sector 25,700 16 
			 other 101,000 62 
			 not classified 6,890 4 
			 Other taxpayers 28,700 18 
			 Total income tax liabilities 163,000 100 
			 (1) Table shows total liabilities of income taxpayers estimated across all incomes subject to tax.  (2) Taxpayers with pay.  (3) Reflecting legal status of employer given by Inter-Departmental Business Register where available (main employment where more than one). Public sector defined as central Government, local authorities and public corporations.   Source:  Survey of Personal Incomes, 2007-08. See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/inc-distribution-note.pdf

Taxation

Lorely Burt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to HM Revenue and Customs' publication, Measuring Tax Gaps 2009, March 2010, what his most recent estimate is of the size of the tax gap in  (a) absolute and  (b) percentage terms; and what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to avoid underestimating the avoidance tax gap, as referred to in paragraph 4.77.

David Gauke: 'Measuring Tax Gaps 2010', available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/measuring-tax-gaps-2010.htm.pdf
	contains the most recent estimate of the size of the tax gap as  (a) £42 billion,  (b) 8.6% of total tax liability.
	HMRC has a range of tools to detect avoidance. The Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) regime provides early information about tax avoidance schemes and those who use them. Finance Act 2010 introduced a range of amendments intended to strengthen the DOTAS regime to provide HMRC with better information about avoidance. HMRC also detects avoidance through its compliance work and real-time engagement with large businesses. Avoidance detected in these ways will inform future estimates of the tax gap.

Taxation: Environment Protection

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the implementation of his proposals to increase the share of revenues drawn from green taxes will be revenue-neutral.

Justine Greening: The coalition Government are committed to increasing the share of revenue drawn from green taxes. All taxes are kept under review and announcements on tax policy are made at the Budget.

Taxation: Holiday Accommodation

Michael Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he has had discussions with the  (a) Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,  (b) Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and  (c) Secretary of State for Scotland on the likely effects on remote and island Scottish areas of the Government's proposals to amend the eligibility thresholds and reliefs available under the Furnished Holiday Lettings scheme;
	(2)  whether he has made an assessment of the likely effects on the capacity of self-catering owners who subscribe to quality assessment schemes operated by the National Tourist Boards to maintain their present ratings of his Department's proposed changes to sideways and off-set reliefs;
	(3)  what competitor analysis in respect of each country his Department undertook in formulating his Department's proposals for amendments to the Furnished Holiday Lettings Relief scheme;
	(4)  whether he assessed the merits of a derogation from the proposed changes to the eligibility thresholds for Furnished Holiday Lettings Relief for claims made by self-catering operators in respect of properties in island areas in UK territorial waters;
	(5)  what assessment he has made of the likely effects on social enterprises in remote and island communities of the proposed changes to the eligibility thresholds and off-set reliefs under the Furnished Holiday Lettings Relief scheme;
	(6)  if he will assess the merits of a provision to enable the calculation of average attained occupancy levels over two or more tax years to comply with the proposed eligibility thresholds for Furnished Holiday Lettings Relief  (a) on a permanent basis and  (b) for the purpose of taking account of the effects on the ability of businesses to continue trading during prolonged periods of severe weather;
	(7)  if he will assess the merits of a provision to enable a phased introduction of the proposed changes to the eligibility criteria for Furnished Holiday Lettings Relief by means of an increase in the threshold by seven days in each of the next five tax years  (a) in respect of all areas and  (b) in respect of regions with Convergence Objective status.

David Gauke: Treasury Ministers and officials hold discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. It is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.
	There is a formal consultation on the proposed changes to furnished holiday letting which runs until 22 October 2010. The Government published an impact assessment with the consultation which summarises the key points of the assessment undertaken.
	The issues raised in these questions, with regard to both the impact of proposals, and alternative options, will be added to the other comments and responses to the consultation and will be carefully reviewed in arriving at the Government's response.

VAT

Ben Wallace: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what methods other than online submission are available to businesses wishing to file value added tax returns.

David Gauke: Businesses that are not legally required to file their VAT returns online may send a paper return to HMRC by post.

VAT

Alan Beith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what target HM Revenue and Customs has set for the time taken between receiving an application for a value added tax number and issuing a number; and in what proportion of cases this target has been met in the most recent period for which figures are available.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs target for 2010-11 is to process 70% of VAT registration applications within 10 days.
	In the period April to September 2010, 57.4% of applications were processed within 10 days with 70.9% being processed within 13 days.
	HMRC aims to issue VAT registration numbers as quickly as possible, while protecting the VAT system from fraudulent registrations. It is necessary to balance speed of registration against the need to risk assess and check applications to safeguard against fraud.

VAT: Churches

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has for the future of the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme.

John Penrose: I have been asked to reply.
	The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme makes grants equivalent to the VAT incurred in making repairs to listed buildings in primary use as places of worship. The future of the scheme will be determined during the forthcoming spending review.

VAT: Churches

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many claims were made under the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme  (a) in each region,  (b) in respect of each religious denomination and  (c) for each purpose in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

John Penrose: I have been asked to reply.
	The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme makes grants equivalent to the VAT incurred in making repairs to listed buildings in primary use as places of worship.
	 (a) The number of claims and total value by region in 2009-10 are in the following table.
	
		
			  Region  Number of claims  Total value (£) 
			 East of England 570 1,723,028.33 
			 South East 571 2,204,719.38 
			 North West 327 1,510,511.24 
			 East Midlands 432 1,258,334.99 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 285 1,109,998.26 
			 North East 64 199,916.56 
			 West Midlands 350 1,275,554.53 
			 London 177 1,482,054.76 
			 South West 483 1,467,788.59 
			 Scotland 246 1,223,332.67 
			 Wales 196 841,999.77 
			 Northern Ireland 61 666,173.59 
			 Total 3,762 14,963,412.67 
		
	
	 (b) Figures for the number of claims and total value by denomination or faith group in 2009-10 are in the following table.
	
		
			  Denomination/faith group  Number of claims made  Total value of  claims (£) 
			 Annibynwyr Cymraeg 1 17,324.34 
			 Assemblies of God 1 1,187.40 
			 Baptist 42 174,383.54 
			 Church of England 3,013 10,941,169.40 
			 Christadelphian 3 68,357.81 
			 Christian Free Church 6 30,762.97 
			 Church in Wales 132 540,874.79 
			 Church of Ireland 31 266,479.11 
			 Church of Scotland 175 718,453.12 
			 Congregational 12 66,037.56 
			 Coptic Orthodox 2 26,063.81 
			 Ecumenical 4 12,215.57 
			 Episcopal 33 201,384.81 
			 Greek Orthodox 3 4,121.18 
			 Independent Congregational 6 8,961.11 
			 Jewish 10 78,897.89 
			 Lutheran 1 6,379.80 
			 Methodist 58 155,585.77 
			 Moravian 9 20,632.01 
			 Multi Denominational 1 4,216.11 
			 Pentecostal 4 28,582.14 
			 Presbyterian 30 64,395.58 
			 Protestant 2 6,090.40 
			 Religious Society of Friends 13 62,534.61 
			 Roman Catholic 112 1,147,576.92 
			 Seventh Day Adventist 2 42,145.92 
			 Unitarian 7 31,953.16 
			 United Reformed 43 162,374.12 
			 Welsh Independents 6 74,271.72 
			 Total 3,762 14,963,412.67 
		
	
	 (c) Grants are made in respect of the full range of building repairs, associated professional fees, and repairs to clocks, pews, bells and organs. It is not possible to provide figures for each classification of works. From January 2011 until April 2001, grants will not be available for professional fees or repairs to fixtures and fittings due to the need to make in-year financial savings. Plans for the period after April 2011 will be announced in the Spending Review later this week.

VAT: Electric Vehicles

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the merits of setting a zero rate of value added tax for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

David Gauke: No assessment has been made.
	There are generous existing incentives for electric vehicles, including reliefs from vehicle excise duty and the taxation of company cars. In July, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that grants of up to £5,000 will be available to those buying ultra-low carbon cars between 1 January 2011 and 31 March 2012.
	The case for any further support needs to be weighed against Government's priority of tackling the record budget deficit in a decisive but fair way, to restore confidence in our economy and support the economic recovery. Introducing a VAT zero rate would also require the agreement of our European partners.

Welfare Tax Credits and Child Benefit: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in each constituency in North Wales received  (a) child tax credit,  (b) working tax credit and  (c) child benefit in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: Information on the number of families benefiting from child and working tax credits, by each parliamentary constituency, local authority and region is available in the HMRC snapshot publications "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Geographical Analyses", available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
	Information on the number of families receiving Child Benefit, by each parliamentary constituency, local authority and region is available in the HMRC snapshot publications "Child Benefit Statistics Geographical Analysis", available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/geographical.htm

Written Questions: Government Responses

Clive Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to answer Question 7903, on accrued rights and public sector pensions, tabled on 7 July 2010.

Danny Alexander: I have now replied to the hon. Member and apologise for the delay in doing so.

HEALTH

Asthma: Pupils

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has had recent discussions with ministerial colleagues on the annual number of fatal asthma attacks in schools; and whether he plans to take further steps to seek to reduce that number.

Paul Burstow: Health Ministers have regular discussions with our ministerial colleagues in the Department for Education. These discussions include how schools can manage long-term health conditions, like asthma in children, effectively and safely. Our aim is to produce a concise set of guidance that clarifies expectations, statutory responsibilities and reiterates the importance of support measures with a clear explanation of the roles and responsibilities of key staff members.

Contaminated Blood Products

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government has taken in response to Lord Archer's report on the contamination of blood products; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The majority of Lord Archer's recommendations are already in place in one form or another, although they have not necessarily been implemented exactly as Lord Archer recommended, in all cases. These include:
	Recommendation 1- the Department has brought the Haemophilia Alliance - which is a United Kingdom wide partnership between patients, haemophilia doctors and others involved in their care - into the process of policy making on haemophilia issues;
	Recommendation 2 - haemophilia patients and their partners are offered testing for any infectious condition, if deemed necessary by their clinician;
	Recommendation 3 - blood donations are tested for syphillis, hepatitis B, HIV, hepatitis C, and Human T-Lymphotropic Virus. This list is kept under review by the Government's Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs ;
	Recommendation 4 - general practitioner visits, counselling, physiotherapy and home nursing should be freely available in England under the national health service, where needed;
	Recommendation 5 - the Government are funding the Haemophilia Society with £100,000 per annum over the next four years;
	Recommendation 6 - the Government provide some financial support to those affected via the Macfarlane and Eileen Trusts and the Skipton Fund. They are not means tested, and are discounted for tax purposes and in calculating state benefits;
	Recommendation 7 - the Government are currently considering the issue of access to insurance; and
	Recommendation 8 - the Department is funding the UK Haemophilia Centre Doctors Organisation to identify any other patients who might have been infected. An interim report is expected in 2011, with a final report in 2012.
	There are a small number of recommendations that have not been implemented. These primarily relate to aspects of the ex-gratia payments, free prescriptions in England, and access to insurance. I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement I gave on 14 October,  Official Report, column 30WS, announcing that I have instigated a review of these recommendations to see what more can be done.

Cancer

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of patients diagnosed with each type of cancer following an admission to hospital in  (a) each cancer network,  (b) each primary care trust and  (c) England was aged (i) 49 years and under, (ii) 50 to 59 years, (iii) 60 to 69 years, (iv) 70 to 79 years and (v) over 80 years in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many people who received any active treatment for each type of cancer in  (a) each cancer network,  (b) each primary care trust and  (c) England were aged (i) 49 years and under, (ii) 50 to 59 years, (iii) 60 to 69 years, (iv) 70 to 79 years and (v) over 80 years in each of the last five years;
	(3)  how many people who received any surgical treatment for each type of cancer in  (a) each cancer network,  (b) each primary care trust and  (c) England were aged (i) 49 years and under, (ii) 50 to 59 years, (iii) 60 to 69 years, (iv) 70 to 79 years and (v) over 80 years in each of the last five years;
	(4)  how many finished consultant episodes there were for patients with each type of cancer who were aged  (a) 49 years and under,  (b) 50 to 59 years,  (c) 60 to 69 years,  (d) 70 to 79 years and  (e) over 80 years in (i) each cancer network, (ii) each primary care trust and (iii) England in each of the last five years.

Paul Burstow: Information on the proportion of patients diagnosed with each type of cancer following an admission to hospital by cancer network, primary care trust (PCT) and nationally, who were aged 49 years and under, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years, 70 to 79 years and over 80 years for each of the last five years cannot be provided in the format requested. Hospital episode statistics do not identify whether cancer had been diagnosed before or after admission.
	Information on the number of finished consultant episodes where there was a primary diagnosis of cancer by age, both nationally and by PCT, can be provided, and has been placed in the Library. This information is not available at cancer network level.
	Information on the number of people who received any surgical or active treatment for each type of cancer by cancer network, primary care trust and nationally who were aged 49 years and under, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years, 70 to 79 years and over 80 years in each of the last five years cannot be provided in the format requested. Information on finished consultant episodes where there was a primary diagnosis of cancer and any named primary of secondary procedure or intervention can be provided at PCT level and for the age groups requested for the last five years. This information has been placed in the Library.

Children's Trusts

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will replace primary care trusts as representatives on children's trusts following the implementation of the proposals contained in the NHS White Paper.

Anne Milton: The Department has specifically asked for views on how the proposals contained in "Equality and Excellence: Liberating the NHS" might best fit with current duty to co-operate through children's trust arrangements.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Blood

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date his Department's decision that people with myalgic encephalomyelitis should not give blood was  (a) made and  (b) implemented.

Anne Milton: The UK Blood Services decision to permanently exclude from blood donation, anyone who reports that they have had Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) was made on 8 July 2010. The change to the donor selection guidelines will come into force on 1 November 2010. This change is being made on the grounds of donor safety, as ME/CFS is a relapsing condition. It brings practice for ME/CFS into line with other relapsing conditions or neurological conditions of unknown origin.
	The change to donor selection criteria is being made following a recommendation by the UK Blood Services Standing Advisory Committee on the Care and Selection of Donors, and Joint Professional Advisory Committee.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Blood

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Stroud of 27 January 2010,  Official Report, column 942W, on chronic fatigue syndrome, whether  (a) the UK Blood Services and Health Protection Agency study of the prevalence of a rodent virus linked to myalgic encephalomyelitis and  (b) his Department's risk assessment in respect of the study has been completed; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: There has been a consistent failure of independent European and American studies to confirm the original American study that described the detection of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), a virus related to rodent viruses, in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, sometimes referred to as myalgic encephomyelitis. An expert subgroup of National Expert Panel for New and Emerging Infections (NEPNEI) met in May 2010, to consider all available evidence about XMRV and conduct a risk assessment. The subgroup concluded that XMRV can infect humans but there is currently no evidence that it causes human disease and that on the evidence before the group, no public health action is required at this time. Since the subgroup meeting in May there has been no new scientific evidence that would change the conclusions of the subgroup but they are keeping it under review.
	The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), on the basis of current evidence does not recommend further measures at present but wishes to continue to monitor the situation. The NHS Blood and Transplant and Health Protection Agency study group concur with the views expressed both by NEPNEI and SaBTO but also recognise the need for further research on the prevalence of XMRV in the United Kingdom. In a recent unpublished pilot study conducted by the group a series of 540 randomly selected English blood donors were screened for XMRV and none were found to be infected.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Health Services

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to publish his Department's clinical strategy on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department is currently reviewing the responses received to its consultation on a strategy for services for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in England and will make an announcement in due course on the publication of any final strategy.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Health Services

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to implement his Department's clinical strategy on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: A consultation was held earlier this year on a draft strategy for services for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in England, closing on 6 April 2010. The Department is currently considering the responses received and will be taking these into account when shaping the final strategy. In advance of publication of the final strategy, the Department is doing some preparatory work with the development of communities of practice at a local level and the initiation of pilots working with NHS improvement.

Contaminated Blood Products

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the recommendations made by Lord Archer in the report of his inquiry into contaminated blood products his Department has implemented.

Anne Milton: Some of Lord Archer's recommendations are already in place in one form or another, although they have not necessarily been implemented exactly as Lord Archer recommended, in all cases. These include:
	Recommendation 1-The Department has brought the Haemophilia Alliance-which is a United Kingdom wide partnership between patients, haemophilia doctors and others involved in their care-into the process of policy making on haemophilia issues;
	Recommendation 2-Haemophilia patients and their partners are offered testing for any infectious condition, if deemed necessary by their clinician;
	Recommendation 3-Blood donations are tested for syphilis, hepatitis B, HIV, hepatitis C, and Human T-Lymphotropic Virus. This list is kept under review by the Government's Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs ;
	Recommendation 4-General practitioner visits, counselling, physiotherapy and home nursing should be freely available in England under the NHS, where needed;
	Recommendation 5-The Government are funding the Haemophilia Society with £100,000 per annum over the next four years;
	Recommendation 6-The Government provide some financial support to those affected via the MacFarlane and Eileen Trusts and the Skipton Fund. They are not means tested, and are discounted for tax purposes and in calculating state benefits;
	Recommendation 7-The Government are currently considering the issue of access to insurance; and
	Recommendation 8-The Department is funding the UK Haemophilia Centre Doctors Organisation to identify any other patients who might have been infected. An interim report is expected in 2011, with a final report in 2012.
	There are a small number of recommendations that have not been implemented. These primarily relate to aspects of the ex-gratia payments, free prescriptions in England, and access to insurance. I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement i gave on 14 October 2010,  Official Report, column 30WS, announcing that I have instigated a review of these recommendations to see what more can be done.

Dementia: Devon

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the adequacy of dementia services available to people living in  (a) South Devon and  (b) Newton Abbot constituency.

Paul Burstow: The Secretary of State has received no representations on the adequacy of dementia services available to people living in South Devon and Newton Abbot constituency.

Dental Services

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will be responsible for ensuring the provision of NHS dental services in areas of shortage after the implementation of the proposals contained in the NHS White Paper.

Simon Burns: Primary care trusts are currently responsible for commissioning sufficient primary care dentistry to meet local demand. Under the proposals set out in the White Paper 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS', the NHS Commissioning Board would, subject to the outcome of consultation and parliamentary approval, take on responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry and, if locally required, increasing those services to meet demand.

Departmental Consultants

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on management consultants in the latest year for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: In 2009-10, the Department spent £108 million on management consultants.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

Simon Burns: From July 2008, the Department no longer purchases bottled water.
	For meeting or hospitality purposes, the Department utilises its own water supply, which is filtered and bottled on site. The costs for the supply of bottled water are as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2007-08 108,691 
			 2008-09 45,696 
			 2009-10 (1)35,250 
			 (1) Figures for 2009-10 include costs up to the end of September 2010.

Departmental Manpower

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many officials his Department has appointed on fixed-term contracts since 7 May 2010.

Simon Burns: The Department has issued six fixed-term appointment contracts since 7 May 2010.

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid at the rate of the national minimum wage or above.

Simon Burns: In 2009-10, the Department recruited three apprentices, three student candidates from the Cabinet Office Summer Development and Placement Schemes, 10 analytical students and three financial student placements from universities and three Government Economics Service Summer Placement Scheme students. All are paid at the Department's minimum administrative officer pay scale for 2009-10.
	Work experience placements are unpaid (expenses are reimbursed) and are arranged by local business units. Information on these placements is not held centrally and it would incur disproportionate costs to collect the information requested.

Diabetes: Medical Treatments

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to primary care trusts on administering insulin pump therapy.

Paul Burstow: In July 2008, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued a review of its guidance on insulin pump therapy, which is supported by a costing template and separate guidance on the commissioning of insulin pump services. Implementation of the NICE guidance is the responsibility of commissioners and/or providers.
	The Department has not issued guidance to primary care trusts on administering insulin pump therapy.

Drugs: Finance

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a patient who has paid for drugs may be reimbursed when a subsequent individual funding request is approved.

Simon Burns: Eligibility for national health service treatment is not established until an individual funding request is approved. In certain circumstances, such as where the decision-making process is flawed through undue delay or the decision is clearly irrational, primary care trusts may consider making an ex gratia payment in accordance with the principles outlined in "Managing Public Money" available at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/psr_mpm_index.htm

Drugs: Misuse

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will direct the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse to adhere to the guidance on long-term sobriety issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Anne Milton: We expect all national health service organisations to take final guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) fully into account when deciding what treatments to give people. However, NICE guidance does not replace the knowledge and skills of individual health professionals who treat patients.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people in England who were prescribed methadone and benzodiazepines in the latest year for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: Data for the number of people receiving substitute prescribing interventions for substance misuse in England for the period 2009-10 are in the following table. Information to enable this figure to be broken down in relation to specific medications is not collected. However, the figure does include those receiving methadone or buprenorphine substitute treatment.
	
		
			  2009-10 
			   Number 
			 Substitute prescribing 153,632 
			  Source:  National Drug Treatment Monitoring System. 
		
	
	The following table shows the prescription items of methadone and benzodiazepines dispensed in England. There is no information available on the number of people who were prescribed these items or the reason for prescription. Since drugs can be prescribed to treat more than one condition, for example methadone can be used as a cough suppressant or analgesic as well as for treating substance misuse, it is not possible to separate the different conditions which a drug was prescribed for.
	
		
			  2009 
			  British National Formulary chemical name  Prescription items (Thousand) 
			 Methadone hydrochloride 2,968.0 
			 Benzodiazepines 11,436.6 
			  Source:  Prescription Cost Analysis.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of  (a) the number of people who were prescribed (i) methadone hydrochloride mixture and (ii) buphenorphine/subutex for opiate dependence,  (b) the average dose prescribed of each type of medication and  (c) the average cost to the public purse of prescribing each type of medication for one patient in the latest year for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System collects information on the number of people receiving substitute prescribing interventions for substance misuse in England, but does not distinguish between methadone and other drugs such as buprenorphine which are also recommended for the treatment of drug misuse by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The number of adults receiving substitute prescribing in their latest treatment journey was 153,632 in 2009-10.
	Data are not collected on the number of people who were prescribed methadone hydrochloride mixture and buphenorphine/subutex. However, Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management (2007) does indicate that there is a consistent finding of greater benefit from maintaining patients on a daily dose between 60 and 120 milligram (mg) of methadone; and that doses of between 12 and 16mg and up to 32mg in exceptional cases) would seem appropriate for long-term prescribing.
	Information about the annual cost of prescribing methadone or buprenorphine for opiate dependence in specialist drug treatment is not collected. However, in 2007-08 a one-off unit cost exercise was carried out by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, assessed the average cost of prescribing interventions (including methadone and buprenorphine) per individual per day, during that year. The exercise calculated the cost of specialist prescribing at £6.81 per day, which included dispensing and keyworking costs but not the costs of psychosocial or other support interventions received by the individual at the same time

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he made of the number of people who had been on a continuous  (a) methadone and  (b) buprenorphine/subutex prescription for (i) 12 to 24, (ii) 24 to 48 and (iii) 48 months or more in the latest year for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) collects information on the number of people receiving substitute prescribing interventions for substance misuse in England, but does not distinguish between methadone and other drugs such as buprenorphine which are also recommended for the treatment of drug misuse by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE recommends that substitute prescribing should always be accompanied by psychosocial interventions.
	In addition, Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management (2007) state that any decision to maintain a patient on long-term prescribing should be an active one agreed between the clinician and patient, reviewed at regular intervals, and part of a broader programme of care-planned social and psychological support.
	Drug addiction is a long-term chronic relapsing condition, which may require treatment over an extended period. The numbers of people in a continuous period of substitute prescribing for the time periods requested are as follows.
	
		
			  Latest continuous period of prescribing 
			   Less than  12 months  %  1-2 years  %  2-4 years  %  4 years+  %  Total 
			 Total 58,773 38 28,947 19 30,792 20 35,120 23 153,632 
			  Source:  Statistics from the NDTMS 1 April 2009 - 31 March 2010

Epilepsy: Health Services

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce a national plan for all patients assessed as requiring access to an epilepsy specialist nurse; what his policy is on the future of epilepsy specialist nurses; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: We have no plans to introduce a national plan for all patients assessed as requiring access to an epilepsy nurse. It is the responsibility of local health bodies to commission services to meet the needs of those living with epilepsy, this includes the recruitment of specialist nurses where appropriate.
	The National Service Framework for Long-term Conditions is the key tool for delivering the Government's strategy to support and improve services for those living with long-term neurological conditions, including epilepsy.

General Practitioners

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the proposed GP commissioning consortia will be made subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Simon Burns: The White Paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS" set out our proposals to devolve power and responsibility for commissioning services to local consortia of general practitioner (GP) practices.
	Provisions have been made in the Health Bill for both the NHS Commissioning Board and GP consortia to be made subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
	A number of supporting documents were published and in particular "Liberating the NHS: Commissioning for Patients" invited views on a number of areas of the commissioning agenda. The engagement exercise closed on 11 October and the Department is now analysing all of the contributions received.
	Many of the proposals require primary legislation and are subject to the approval of Parliament. A Health Bill is to be introduced in this parliamentary session and will set out further detail about the duties and functions of commissioning consortia.

General Practitioners

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will be responsible for monitoring the performance of GPs and ensuring that their skills are kept up to date and adequately revalidated after the implementation of the proposals contained in the NHS White Paper.

Simon Burns: The public has the right to expect that their doctor is professionally up to date and fit to practise. Revalidation, which is currently being tested in the national health service, will be built on existing local processes of regular appraisal and effective clinical governance. The intention is that every five years, a revalidation recommendation will be made by a doctor's responsible officer to the General Medical Council. From 1 January 2011, subject to parliamentary approval, general practitioners will relate to a responsible officer in the primary care organisation that holds the performers list on which the individual doctor is included as a practitioner of primary medical services. The arrangements for nominating or appointing responsible officers in primary care following the proposed changes to NHS architecture set out in "Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS" are currently being considered by Ministers and officials.

General Practitioners

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will be responsible for ensuring that GPs follow best practice on  (a) dementia diagnosis and treatment and  (b) drug prescription after the implementation of the proposals contained in the NHS White Paper.

Paul Burstow: General practitioner (GP) consortia will be expected to involve relevant health and social care professionals from all sectors in helping design care pathways or care packages for people with dementia that achieve more integrated delivery of care, higher quality and more efficient use of resources. This will create an effective dialogue across all health, and where appropriate, social care, professionals.
	To support GP consortia in their commissioning decisions, the Government will also create an independent NHS Commissioning Board. The Commissioning Board will set commissioning guidelines based on the quality standards which have already been developed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for dementia.

General Practitioners: Finance

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to extend his Department's funding for GPs' local enhancement services after March 2011.

Simon Burns: Local enhanced services are commissioned by primary care trusts (PCTs) to meet local health needs and are funded from PCT revenue allocations. Therefore, decisions on funding of local enhanced services in 2011-12 are a matter for individual PCTs based on local priorities and not the Department of Health.

Health Services: Co-operatives

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on promoting locally-owned health mutual organisations.

Paul Burstow: The creation and expansion of mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises is a priority for the Government. The Government want to enable these groups to have much greater involvement in the running of public services.
	The Government have made a commitment to give public sector workers a new right to form employee-owned co-operatives and bid to take over the services they deliver.

Health Services: North Yorkshire

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what arrangements were made to consult GP practices before the decision to close minor injury services at the Lambert Hospital in Thirsk and St Monica's Hospital in Easingwold was  (a) taken and  (b) made public;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect on GP practices of the planned closures of minor injury services at  (a) the Lambert Hospital in Thirsk and  (b) St Monica's Hospital in Easingwold.

Simon Burns: This is a local matter for North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust. The Secretary of State has made no assessment of the effect on general practitioner (GP) practices of the planned closures of minor injuries units at the Lambert Hospital, Thirsk, and St Monica's Hospital, Easingwold.
	This Government are committed to devolving power to local communities-to the people, patients, general practitioners and councils who are best placed to determine the nature of their local national health service services.
	To this end, the Secretary of State for Health has outlined new, strengthened criteria that he expects decisions on national health service service changes to meet. They must:
	focus on improving patient outcomes;
	consider patient choice;
	have support from GP commissioners; and
	be based on sound clinical evidence.
	The Department expects all reconfiguration schemes to be informed by local decisions, driven by clinical professionals, and grounded in firm clinical evidence by recognising the views of the community.

Health Services: Rural Areas

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision the NHS funding formula makes for serving sparsely populated rural communities.

Simon Burns: The independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA), which oversees the development of the primary care trust (PCT) revenue allocation funding formula, has considered the impact of rurality on a number of occasions and concluded that the only adjustment necessary is the Emergency Ambulance Cost Adjustment, to reflect the additional cost of providing emergency ambulance services in rural areas. No further adjustment is made to reflect rurality.
	ACRA is to continue to provide independent advice to the Secretary of State on the funding formula for the allocation of national health service resources during the transition to the NHS Commissioning Board. ACRA has been asked to consider looking again at the impact of rurality on unavoidable differences on costs as part of its future work programme.

Heart Diseases: Medical Equipment

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance his Department has issued to procurement hubs on the weighting to be applied to price when commissioning a contract for the supply of implantable cardiac devices;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of patients in each strategic health authority who received heart pacemakers in the last five years.

Simon Burns: No guidance has been issued by the Department to procurement hubs on the weighting to be applied to price when commissioning a contract for the supply of implantable cardiac devices.
	The estimated number of patients in each strategic health authority (SHA) who have received heart pacemakers in the last five years are in the following table.
	This is the count of finished consultant episodes where there were main/secondary procedure mentions of "insertion of a pacemaker" 2004-05 to 2008-09, by SHA of residence.
	
		
			  Activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			   Insertion of pacemaker 
			  SHA of residence  2005-06  2004-05 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA 1,400 1,315 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA 1,044 821 
			 Essex SHA 815 724 
			 North West London SHA 947 815 
			 North Central London SHA 525 540 
			 North East London SHA 578 540 
			 South East London SHA 625 628 
			 South West London SHA 741 642 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA 711 685 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley SHA 530 524 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA 897 812 
			 West Yorkshire SHA 917 874 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire SHA 961 931 
			 Greater Manchester SHA 1,167 1,066 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside SHA 1,254 1,215 
			 Thames Valley SHA 1,098 982 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA 1,069 975 
			 Kent and Medway SHA 911 853 
			 Surrey and Sussex SHA 1,805 1,519 
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA 1,095 977 
			 South West Peninsula SHA 1,772 1,456 
			 Dorset and Somerset SHA 1,181 957 
			 South Yorkshire SHA 747 741 
			 Trent SHA 1,300 1,367 
			 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA 896 873 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA 509 570 
			 Birmingham and the Black Country SHA 1,079 1,038 
			 West Midlands South SHA 696 584 
			 Wales 217 180 
			 Scotland 25 22 
			 England-not otherwise specified 9 6 
			 Foreign (incl. Isle of Man and Channel Islands) 141 170 
			 Unknown 46 34 
			 Northern Ireland 3 3 
		
	
	
		
			   Insertion of pacemaker 
			  SHA of residence  2008-09  2007-08  2006-07 
			 North East SHA 1,573 1,462 1,291 
			 North West SHA 4,900 4,185 3,839 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA 3,135 2,749 2,610 
			 East Midlands SHA 2,281 2,049 2,063 
			 West Midlands SHA 2,701 2,437 2,284 
			 East of England SHA 3,422 3,473 3,271 
			 London SHA 3,493 3,110 3,245 
			 South East Coast SHA 2,919 2,753 2,619 
			 South Central SHA 2,311 2,244 2,098 
			 South West SHA 5,301 4,739 3,986 
			 Wales 383 325 200 
			 Scotland 14 18 13 
			 England-not otherwise specified 8 10 4 
			 Foreign (incl. Isle of Man and Channel Islands) 147 150 140 
			 Unknown 46 129 56 
			 Northern Ireland 1 4 2 
			  Notes: 1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE)-A FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. 2. Number of episodes with a (named) main or secondary procedure: The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and four prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients under going a 'cataract operation' would tend to have at least two procedures-removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one-counted in a single episode. 3. OPCS-4 Codes: The OPCS-4 codes used to identify the procedures are: (I). Insertion of pacemaker K60.1 Implantation of intravenous cardiac pacemaker system NEC K60.5 Implantation of intravenous single chamber cardiac pacemaker system K60.6 Implantation of intravenous dual chamber cardiac pacemaker system K60.7 Implantation of intravenous biventricular cardiac pacemaker system K60.8 Other specified cardiac pacemaker system introduced through vein K60.9 Unspecified cardiac pacemaker system introduced through vein K61.1 Implantation of cardiac pacemaker system NEC K61.5 Implantation of single chamber cardiac pacemaker system K61.6 Implantation of dual chamber cardiac pacemaker system K61.7 Implantation of biventricular cardiac pacemaker system K61.8 Other specified other cardiac pacemaker system K61.9 Unspecified other cardiac pacemaker system 4. Assessing growth through time: HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. 5. SHA/PCT of residence: The strategic health authority (SHA) or primary care trust (PCT) containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another SHA/PCT for treatment. 6. Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and PCTs in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

HIV Infection: Health Services

David Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects of needle exchange and drug substitution therapy programmes on levels of HIV infection amongst injecting drug users.

Anne Milton: The overall prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) is currently estimated to be 1.5% in the United Kingdom-one of the lowest rates among this population in the western world.
	The introduction of needle exchange, opioid substitution therapy and abstinence based drug treatment in the 1980s, and the sustained investment in these services since then will have contributed to this.
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) states that, overall, needle and syringe programmes were cost effective in reducing HIV incidence and prevalence among IDUs.
	The United Nations Offices of Drug Control are clear that countries that do not commission methadone/needle exchange programmes have substantially higher rates of HIV and Hepatitis C infection among injecting drug users than the UK.
	 Sources:
	Health Protection Agency, Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring Survey of Injecting Drug Users in contact with specialist services, (July 2010) NICE, Needle and syringe programmes: guidance, February 2010

Hospitals: Parking

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on parking charges at hospitals in England; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Before responding to the consultation on national health service car parking charges, departmental officials met with representatives of Macmillan Cancer Support, the Patients Association,  Which? and Age UK.
	Since the publication of the response to that consultation, on 16 September 2010, the Department has received at least 40 communications about NHS car parking charges.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes there were in NHS facilities in the last 12 months.

Simon Burns: Provisional Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data show that there were 16,924,370 finished consultant episodes in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector in the 12 months from July 2009 to June 2010.
	Provisional HES monthly data are published every month at:
	www.hesonline.nhs.uk/Ease/servlet/Content Server?siteID=1937&categoryID=1132

Lister Hospital

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the  (a) procedure and  (b) timetable is for approval of the outline business case for phase 4 of the Lister Hospital, Stevenage; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department received the outline business case for phase 4 of redevelopment of the Lister Hospital, Stevenage on 5 October and is carrying out a review to ensure that the scheme is affordable, deliverable and demonstrates value for money. After the Department's review is completed, the scheme will require HM Treasury's approval before a recommendation for approval can be made to proceed to full business case. A decision will be announced in due course.

Lung Diseases

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's strategy is for reducing the number of deaths resulting from lung diseases; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department is committed to improving outcomes for patients. For lung disease the two main areas the Department is focussing on are lung cancer and the respiratory diseases chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and adult asthma.
	We have announced a £10.75 million campaign for three of the biggest killer cancers, including lung cancer, to raise awareness of signs and symptoms and encourage people with persistent symptoms to present to their general practitioner. Being diagnosed at an early stage of the disease increases the chance of being successfully treated for lung cancer.
	With respiratory disease the Department is currently reviewing the responses received to its consultation on a strategy for services for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in England, which contained a chapter on adult asthma, and will make an announcement in due course.

Medical Records: Databases

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has assessed the merits of automatically including a patient's advance decision to refuse treatment on a summary care record.

Simon Burns: The main recommendation of the recent review of the content of the summary care record (SCR), led by Sir Bruce Keogh, was that the core information should only include a patient's medications, allergies, and adverse reactions. Any additional information beyond this should only be added to the SCR with the explicit consent of the patient. This would therefore preclude the automatic inclusion of a patient's advance decision.

Medicine: Education

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that all graduates leaving medical school have a foundation programme training post.

Anne Milton: Not all graduates leaving United Kingdom medical schools apply for a foundation programme training post.
	The four UK Health Departments fund sufficient foundation programme training places to meet the expected output of UK medical schools. However, applicants from non-UK medical schools are also able to apply.
	To date, all eligible applicants to the foundation programme have secured a place. However, for the programmes commencing in 2011 there has been a large number of applicants from non-UK medical schools, which means for the first time there are more applicants to the foundation programme than there are places.
	There is an agreed contingency plan for managing the situation.
	The latest predictions from the UK foundation programme office are that all eligible applicants to the foundation programme in 2011 will be offered a foundation programme post as places become available due to failed finals and graduates deciding to do other things.

Mental Health Services

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice services are available to support people with mental health problems who are experiencing financial hardship.

Paul Burstow: People with mental health problems can get health advice and help from NHS Direct
	www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/
	There is a range of help available for people in financial hardship. The Government provide support for several of these sources, including Citizen's Advice Bureau and the National Debtline
	www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/
	These sources of financial advice refer their clients to NHS Direct when appropriate and vice versa.

Mental Health Services

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many community treatment orders were made under the Mental Health Act 1983 in respect of people in each ethnic group in the last five years;
	(2)  how many compulsory inpatient admissions were made under the Mental Health Act 1983 in respect of people in each ethnic group in the last five years;
	(3)  how many patients in each ethnic group were in contact with secondary mental health services in the last five years.

Paul Burstow: The information requested about community treatment orders and contact with secondary mental services has been placed in the Library. Further information and the statistics that we have on compulsory inpatient admissions are available on the NHS Information Centre's website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/supporting-information/mental-health/nhs-specialist-mental-health-services/mental-health-bulletin/mhmds-2006-2009-annual-data-tables

Minor Injuries Units

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the opening times of minor injury units.

Simon Burns: We are aware of no recent representations on the opening times of minor injury units, other than that made by my hon. Friend during the Westminster Hall debate on accident and emergency services on 14 September. South West Strategic Health Authority has been made aware of my hon. Friend's concerns.

Neuromuscular Care: Health Services

George Hollingbery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to implement the March 2010 recommendation of the South Central Commissioning Group to fund a neuromuscular care advisor for families in Hampshire; on what date he expects an appointment to be made; and what the reason is for the time taken to make the appointment.

Paul Burstow: This is a matter for the South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA). The SHA has advised that it will write to the hon. Member to respond to the specific points he raises.

NHS Speech and Language Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much funding his Department allocated to NHS speech and language services in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many people aged  (a) 18 and under  (b) 19 to 40,  (c) 40 to 60 and  (d) over 60 years were seen by NHS speech and language services in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The activity data returns on speech and language therapy were discontinued from April 2005. The available information is published in "NHS Speech and Language Therapy Services, Summary Information for 2004-05, England". This document has already been placed in the Library.
	Funding for speech and language therapy services is provided within the national health service budget and decided by local NHS organisations.

NHS: Accountability

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statutory duties are placed upon  (a) strategic health authorities and  (b) primary care trusts; and who will be responsible for discharging such duties in 2014.

Simon Burns: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) have a large number of legal duties. Most of these are statutory functions of the Secretary of State that have been delegated through regulations and directions under the National Health Service Act 2006.
	Broadly, PCTs are currently responsible for the commissioning of most national health service services, while SHAs act as regional headquarters of the NHS, providing management and direction to PCTs and NHS trusts.
	The White Paper "Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS", which proposed that SHAs and PCTs should be abolished, gave a commitment to establish more autonomous NHS institutions, with transparent duties and responsibilities. It proposed that, in future, consortia of general practices should be responsible for commissioning the majority of NHS services, supported by a national NHS Commissioning Board. PCTs' current responsibilities for public health improvement would transfer to local authorities.
	The Government intend to bring detailed proposals before Parliament later this year in a Health Bill.

NHS: Consultants

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on management on management consultants in the latest year for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The figures for consultancy services, from the published NHS (England) Summarised Accounts 2009-10, are as follows:
	
		
			   £000 
			 Strategic health authorities 52,734 
			 Primary care trusts 261,147 
			 NHS trusts 141,332 
		
	
	The Department does not collect data from NHS foundation trusts. Where an NHS trust obtains foundation trust status part way through any year, the data provided are only for the part of the year the organisation operated as an NHS trust.
	The definition of consultancy services in the NHS Manual for Accounts was revised in 2009 to ensure consistency with Cabinet Office definitions for central Government. Consequently, the definition includes the provision of advice far a broad range of services including, legal, information technology, property and human resources.

NHS: Debts

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much debt incurred by each  (a) hospital and  (b) primary care trust has been written off by the NHS in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The Department does not collect accounting information from individual hospitals. The information requested has been placed in the Library in respect of primary care trusts and national health service trusts.

NHS: Debts

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the monetary value of debt recovered by debt collectors on behalf of the NHS in respect of each  (a) hospital and  (b) primary care trust in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how much each  (a) hospital and  (b) primary care trust has paid to debt collectors in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The information is not held centrally.

NHS: Debts

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money is owed to the NHS by each  (a) hospital and  (b) primary care trust in unpaid invoices in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The Department does not collect accounting information from individual hospitals. The information for primary care trusts and national health service trusts for the last three years (2007-08 to 2009-10) has been placed in the Library. Information for 2005-06 and 2006-07 is not available in the format requested.

NHS: Finance

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the expected level of savings that will arise from the implementation of the proposals contained in the NHS White Paper in  (a) 2011-12,  (b) 2012-13,  (c) 2013-14 and  (d) 2014-15.

Simon Burns: The White Paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS" laid out proposals for fundamental changes to the ways that the national health service is structured and run. The Government have said that the NHS management costs of the new system must be 46% lower than the current system, and that the overall administration costs of the health service must be 33% lower, by the end of the next spending review period (2014-15).
	The precise detail of these savings will not be known until the new organisations that will underpin the new system have been designed in more detail.

NHS: Manpower

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the NHS as  (a) hospital consultants,  (b) general practitioners,  (c) registered nurses,  (d) administrative and clerical workers,  (e) managers,  (f) executive directors,  (g) managers involved in commissioning at primary care trusts, care trusts and health authorities,  (h) other staff supporting managers involved in commissioning at primary care trusts, care trusts and health authorities,  (i) finance staff and  (j) managers and support staff directly involved in performance management in each year since 1995.

Simon Burns: The following tables show full-time equivalent staff employed by the NHS for the aforementioned staff groups  (a) to  (e) as at 30 September 1995 to 2009. Information for September 2010 will not be published until March 2011.
	The information for staff groups  (f) to  (j) is not collected centrally.
	
		
			  NHS hospital and community health service and general practice work force as at 30 September each year 
			  Full-time equivalents 
			   1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001 
			 Hospital consultants 17,900 18,603 19,661 20,432 21,410 22,186 23,064 
			 
			 All general practitioners (GPs) (excluding retainers)(1,2,3) 27,489 27,550 27,660 27,848 28,033 28,154 28,439 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff(4) 246,822 248,070 246,011 247,238 250,651 256,276 266,171 
			 GP practice nurses(3) 9,745 9,821 10,082 10,359 10,689 10,711 11,163 
			 
			 Clerical and administrative staff 180,477 179,923 180,201 181,845 186,890 191,792 201,707 
			 Central functions 62,686 60,920 60,643 60,693 63,190 65,965 69,277 
			 Hotel, property and estates 10,986 10,173 9,454 8,833 8,551 7,375 7,579 
			 Scientific, therapeutic and technical support 9,794 9,909 9,778 9,843 9,844 10,077 10,428 
			 Clinical support 47,289 49,005 49,729 51,263 52,924 56,207 60,346 
			 Ambulance support 2,369 2,279 2,255 2,327 2,391 2,639 2,687 
			 GP admin and clerical staff(1) 47,353 47,637 48,341 48,887 49,990 49,529 51,390 
			 
			 Manager and senior manager staff 20,049 20,588 21,434 21,854 23,378 24,253 26,285 
			 Manager 13,618 13,442 14,090 14,112 14,786 15,664 16,911 
			 Senior manager 6,431 7,146 7,343 7,741 8,592 8,589 9,374 
		
	
	
		
			  Full-time equivalents 
			   2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Hospital consultants 24,756 26,341 28,141 29,613 30,619 31,430 32,679 34,654 
			  
			 All general practitioners (GPs) (excluding retainers)(1,2,3) 28,740 29,777 30,762 31,683 33,121 33,345 33,730 35,770 
			  
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff(4) 279,287 291,925 301,877 307,744 307 447 307,628 315,410 322,425 
			 GP practice nurses(3) 11,998 12,967 13,563 13,793 14,616 14,554 13,962 13,582 
			  
			 Clerical and administrative staff 210,422 223,957 236,628 245,045 241,062 237,047 246,349 261,734 
			 Central functions 72,730 78,784 85,498 90,387 87 856 86,772 92,106 101,983 
			 Hotel, property and estates 7,468 7,709 7,655 7,599 6,246 5,960 6,035 6,204 
			 Scientific, therapeutic and technical support 11,503 12,464 13,140 12,601 11 711 11,042 10,643 10,763 
			 Clinical support 64,656 70,053 74,205 78,090 77,309 76,656 81,977 87,862 
			 Ambulance support 2,620 2,697 2,840 2,851 2,826 2,938 3,475 3,689 
			 GP admin and clerical staff(1) 51,444 52,250 53,290 53,517 55,116 53,679 52,112 51,233 
			  
			 Manager and senior manager staff 30,914 33,810 36,007 37,549 35,041 34,955 37,937 42,509 
			 Manager 19,494 22,195 24,642 26,568 24,782 24,873 26,854 29,924 
			 Senior manager 11,420 11,614 11,365 10,981 10,258 10,082 11,083 12,585 
			  Notes: (1) GP data as at 1 October 1995-99, 30 September 2000-09. (2) GP retainers were first collected in 1999 and have been omitted for comparability purposes. (3) GP full-time equivalent (FTE) data for 1999 to 2005 have been estimated using the results from the 1992-93 GMP Workload Survey. From 2006 onwards GP FTE has been collected and therefore may not be fully comparable with previous years; we are currently evaluating the accuracy of this data. (4) Nursing and midwifery figures exclude students on training courses leading to a first qualification as a nurse or midwife. Bank staff are included.  Sources: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census The NHS Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce Census

NHS: Per Capita Costs

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent estimate is of health spending per capita per year.

Simon Burns: Health spend per capita in England was £1,748 in 2008-09.
	 Source:
	HM Treasury Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2010 Tables 9.11 and 9.15.

NHS: Redundancy

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff have participated in the mutually agreed resignation scheme; and what the average redundancy payout has been since its introduction.

Simon Burns: The national mutually agreed resignation scheme was launched on 2 September 2010. It is open to staff for a time-limited period. The national scheme closes at the end of October/early November. It will not be until toward the end of the year, when the scheme is evaluated, that the total numbers and costs are known.

NHS: Redundancy

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of making redundant  (a) managers,  (b) senior managers and  (c) non-clinical staff employed under the NHS Agenda for Change terms and conditions.

Simon Burns: Redundancy payments for national health service staff depend on factors such as earnings and length of service. As such, the exact costs of redundancies depend on the characteristics of the affected staff.
	Consideration of earnings and length of service data suggests it is reasonable to assume redundancy costs of 1.5 times average earnings for planning purposes.
	This equates to average potential costs in the order of:
	£90,000 per full-time equivalent for managers and senior managers;
	£35,000 per full-time equivalent for administrative and clerical staff; and
	£40,000 per full-time equivalent for maintenance and works staff.

NHS: Redundancy

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of redundancies arising from the implementation of the structural reorganisation proposed in the NHS White Paper.

Simon Burns: The White Paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS" laid out proposals for fundamental changes to the ways that the national health service is structured and run. The Department has not yet produced robust costings of the redundancies arising from the implementation of the structural reorganisation. This is because the precise costs of the transition to the new system, including the costs of redundancies, will not be known until the new organisations that will underpin the new system have been designed in more detail.
	A number of consultations on how the new organisations should be designed have been published, and once the results of this are known we will publish the costs of moving to the new system in an Impact Assessment. However, we have made it clear that the running costs of the new system will be lower than the running costs of the current system.

NHS: Standards

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what means his Department plans to measure health outcomes for patients following the removal of NHS targets.

Simon Burns: The White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS set out that the Secretary of State for Health would hold the new NHS Commissioning Board to account for the delivery of better health outcomes through a NHS Outcomes Framework. This framework will include a set of around 30 indicators which will be used to measure the progress of the national health service as a whole in delivering better outcomes through the treatment activity for which it is responsible. Information against the indicators within the framework will be made publicly available.
	More details on the proposals are set out in the consultation document Transparency in outcomes - a framework for the NHS. The 12-week consultation period on the proposals closed on Monday 11 October 2010.

NHS: Training

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the Foundation Programme application process for those applying for August 2011 entry.

Anne Milton: Two letters have been received from the British Medical Association. No other representations have been received from stakeholders groups or members of the public.
	Recruitment to the Foundation Programme in 2011 has been discussed at the Medical Education England Medical Programme Board and a press release was issued by the UK Foundation Programme Office on 10 September explaining the position.
	The latest predictions from the UK Foundation Programme Office are that eligible applicants to the Foundation Programme in 2011 will secure a place.

North of Tyne Primary Care Trust: Per Capita Costs

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the per capita health allocation was for North of Tyne primary care trust in the latest period for which figures are available; and whether he has made an estimate of the effect on the per capita allocation for North of Tyne primary care trust of the application of the Combined Age Related Needs and Additional formula.

Simon Burns: The following table provides the allocation per head received by North Tyneside primary care trust (PCT) for the years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, and the England averages for those years.
	
		
			  £ 
			   2008-09  2009-10  2010-11 
			 North Tyneside PCT 1,541 1,672 1,754 
			 England average 1,449 1,540 1,612 
			  Note:  Allocations are not always comparable between years because of changes to baseline funding.   Source:  Finance, Planning and Allocations Division, Department of Health. 
		
	
	The Combining Age Related and Additional Needs (CARAN) formula replaced the Allocation of Resources to English Areas formula as the needs component for the prescribing and hospital and community health services elements of the formula (with the exception of mental health) used for PCT revenue target allocations from 2009-10. It is estimated that the impact of this formula change alone would have been to move North Tyneside PCT further above or less below target by 1.8%. When combined with changes to other components of the formula the overall effect was to move the PCT from at target at the end of 2008-09 to 1.5%, under target at the start of 2009-10.
	However, the actual allocations PCTs receive depend on a combination of both the distance from the target set by the funding formula, and how quickly PCTs are moved towards their target allocation (the pace-of-change policy). Therefore, it is not possible to distinguish the individual impact of any formula change, including CARAN, on PCTs' actual per capita allocations.

Nurses

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the report on High impact for nursing and midwifery: the essential collection by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

Anne Milton: The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement developed the High Impact actions for Nursing and Midwifery as the nursing and midwifery response to the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) challenge against eight key areas. The Institute's The Essential Collection is the subsequent examples of how the national health service has already responded. The NHS has taken these eight areas and identified ways of improving quality whiles reducing costs.
	The Essential Collection shows how nurses and midwives can deliver high quality care across these key areas, demonstrating the potential for even greater contribution to prevention, innovation, productivity and best use of resources. The Department along with the strategic health authorities will be co-producing a set of outcome indicators to measure achievements against these High Impact Actions in response to Government policy. This work will be available in due course.
	Much of the High Impact Action work is already embedded across the NHS with support from the Department, and three of the areas: pressure ulcers, falls and urinary tract infections, have featured in the recent consultation Liberating the NHS: Transparency in Outcomes.
	Nursing Times will be hosting the 'High Impact Actions: the Essential Collection' conference on the 9 December. This event is being developed in association with the NHS Institute.

Nurses: Training

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the  (a) number and  (b) location of approved nurse training places to current providers in the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: It is currently the responsibility of strategic health authorities (SHAs) to commission nurse education and training. SHAs base their workforce planning on assessment of their local NHS organisations. It is the local national health service organisations that are best placed to determine workforce needs, including demand and location of approved nurse training programmes.
	The White Paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, signalled a new approach to workforce planning, education and training. Individual health care providers will be responsible for developing their current workforce by promoting staff engagement and partnership working, ensuring continued professional development and providing support to improve staff health and wellbeing.

Oesophageal Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to improve preventative health care in respect of oesophageal cancer.

Paul Burstow: Lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, the harmful use of alcohol, drug misuse, poor diet and nutrition, being overweight and physical inactivity are acknowledged risk factors for a number of chronic diseases and conditions such as oesophageal cancer.
	Later this year, the Department will publish a public health White Paper setting out details of its strategy for improving public health and reducing the risk factor associated with developing conditions such as oesophageal cancer.

Pharmacy

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of existing guidelines on granting pharmacy and dispensing contracts.

Simon Burns: The NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005, as amended, set out the requirements for granting applications to join a primary care trust's pharmaceutical list. These are regularly reviewed. A review of progress on reforms in England to the "Control of Entry" system for national health service pharmaceutical contractors was undertaken in 2006 and a report published later that year. Officials also have regular meetings with primary care trust representatives who are members of the Community Pharmacy Regulations and Guidance User Group.
	The regulations are also being reviewed as part of the work of the Advisory Group on the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations. The group is currently helping the Government devise revised market entry regulations based on pharmaceutical needs assessments. Progress on their work can be found at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Medicinespharmacyand industry/RegulationsAdvisoryGroup/index.htm

Respiratory System: Diseases

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital bed days there were for  (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and  (b) all respiratory diseases in (i) Gateshead and (ii) England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The most recent 'National Statistics' certified Hospital Episode Statistics data are for 2008-09.
	For patients treated in Gateshead Primary Care Trust (PCT) (regardless of place of residence), there were 4,905 bed days with a primary diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (defined as ICD-10 codes J40 to J44 inclusive). For patients resident in Gateshead PCT (but treated anywhere in the English NHS), there were 4,612 bed days with a primary diagnosis of COPD. Overall, there were 878,218 bed days for this primary diagnosis in 2008-09.
	For patients with a primary diagnosis of respiratory disease (defined as ICD-10 codes J00 to J99 inclusive), there were 23,807 bed days for patients treated in Gateshead PCT, or 24,075 bed days for patients resident in Gateshead PCT. Overall, there were 4,249,216 bed days for these primary diagnoses in 2008-09.

Respiratory System: Diseases

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will include a lung function test in the NHS health check.

Simon Burns: The purpose of the NHS Health Check programme is to identify an individual's risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes. The tests used in the NHS Health Check are based on economic modelling undertaken by the Department to ensure it is clinically and cost effective. We continue to keep the components of the NHS Health Check under review as new evidence emerges.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Older People

Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of sexually transmitted infections in people over the age of 50 years;
	(2)  what recent steps he has taken to ensure that people over 50 years old have access to high-quality sexual health  (a) information and  (b) services.

Anne Milton: For a number of years, diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in people aged over 44 years (data on those aged 50 and over are not separately published), attending genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in England have increased. However, diagnoses have increased in all age groups and young people aged 15 to 24 remain the group most affected by STIs.
	For HIV, the age distribution of people living with this infection in the United Kingdom is changing, with older age-groups increasing both in number and proportion. In the UK in 2009, almost one in five individuals accessing HIV-related care were aged 50 years and older, compared to one in seven individuals in 2005 and one in 10 in 2000. This increase is partly explained by the improved life expectancy of adults infected in their 20s, 30s and 40s, as well as those diagnosed soon after infection in the over 50s.
	It is for local areas to decide which information and services should be commissioned to meet the needs of their local populations. However, quick access to GUM services is important to reduce the spread of infections and we are seeing more people coming forward for testing. In May 2005, only 45% were offered an appointment to be seen within 48 hours. In July 2010, 99.9% were offered an appointment to be seen within 48 hours. This means that more people are being tested and therefore having infections detected, including those aged over 50. It also means that more people than ever before are getting the information and advice they need.
	We know that more needs to be done to ensure all people regardless of age get the right information and advice at the right time to make responsible choices, and we are considering how we can tackle these issues. Later this year we will publish the Public Health White Paper which will set out a cross-government strategy for public health and plans for the new public health service.
	The following six tables show the new diagnoses for STI in the aged 50 and above for HIV and 45 and above for STIs.
	
		
			  Number and proportion of individuals living with diagnosed HIV aged = 50 years accessing HIV-related care in the UK  and England,  2000-09 
			   England  UK 
			   Individuals accessing HIV care aged  = 50 years (number)  Individuals accessing HIV care (number)  Proportion of individuals aged  = 50 years (%)  Individuals accessing HIV care aged  = 50 years (number)  Individuals accessing HIV care (number)  Proportion of individuals aged  = 50 years (%) 
			 2000 2,234 20,376 11.0 2,432 22,570 10.8 
			 2001 2,706 23,618 11.5 2,980 26,085 11.4 
			 2002 3,335 28,231 11.8 3,652 30,944 11.8 
			 2003 4,001 33,169 12.1 4,370 36,099 12.1 
			 2004 4,819 37,964 12.7 5,294 41,303 12.8 
			 2005 5,721 43,061 13.3 6,264 46,714 13.4 
			 2006 6,724 47,691 14.1 7,334 51,698 14.2 
			 2007 7,948 51,968 15.3 8,692 56,377 15.4 
			 2008 9,445 56,333 16.8 10,284 61,110 16.8 
			 2009 11,099 60,240 18.4 12,063 65,319 18.5 
			  Note:  Excludes patients with age group not reported; these individuals represent <0.01% of records.   Source:  Health Protection Agency, Survey of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed (SOPHID). 
		
	
	
		
			  Number and proportion of new HIV diagnoses among individuals aged =50 years in the UK and England, 2000-09, data to end of June 2010 
			   England  UK 
			   Individuals newly diagnosed aged =50 years (number)  New HIV diagnoses (number)  Proportion of individuals newly diagnosed aged =50 years (%)  Individuals newly diagnosed aged =50 years (number)  New HIV diagnoses (number)  Proportion of individuals newly diagnosed aged =50 years (%) 
			 2000 298 3,721 8.0 314 3,933 8.0 
			 2001 365 4,860 7.5 391 5,114 7.6 
			 2002 414 5,995 6.9 442 6,304 7.0 
			 2003 448 6,915 6.5 486 7,310 6.6 
			 2004 535 7,292 7.3 590 7,784 7.6 
			 2005 641 7,469 8.6 688 7,982 8.6 
			 2006 591 7,096 8.3 639 7,592 8.4 
			 2007 666 6,927 10 721 7,520 10 
			 2008 758 6,820 11 812 7,388 11 
			 2009 795 6,112 13 856 6,630 13 
			  Notes:  1. Patients may live with HIV for many years before they are diagnosed. Therefore new diagnosis data do not necessarily reflect recently acquired infections.  2. Regions presented represent place of diagnosis, not place of residence. There is evidence that a substantial proportion of individuals are diagnosed outside of their PCT of residence.   Source:  Health Protection Agency, HIV and AIDS New Diagnoses and Death Database. 
		
	
	
		
			  Diagnoses of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes and genital warts in patients over 44 years as a percentage of all diagnoses made in genitourinary medicine clinics in the UK, 2000-09 
			   Chlamydia  Gonorrhoea  Syphilis 
			   %  Number/total  %  Number/total  %  Number/total 
			 2000 1.8 1,054/60,211 4.5 906/19,986 17.3 53/307 
			 2001 1.8 1,184/66,881 5.0 1,090/21,859 14.4 98/679 
			 2002 1.7 1,302/76,656 4.9 1,171/23,775 15.4 173/1,125 
			 2003 1.7 1,406/83,954 5.3 1,206/22,962 16.2 235/1,449 
			 2004 1.8 1,629/91,346 5.6 1,142/20,298 17.2 332/1,927 
			 2005 1.9 1,812/94,420 5.9 1,025/17,328 18.0 427/2,370 
			 2006 2.0 1,990/97,510 6.6 1,115/16,891 18.0 415/2,303 
			 2007 2.2 2,310/105,287 6.2 1,046/16,792 19.8 449/2,273 
			 2008 2.3 2,500/107,123 6.5 953/14,669 22.1 442/1,998 
			 2009 2.6 2,629/99,767 7.4 1,147/15,596 23.2 481/2,071 
		
	
	
		
			   Genital herpes  Genital warts 
			   %  Number/total  %  Number/total 
			 2000 8.0 1,266/15,914 4.5 2,696/59,758 
			 2001 8.0 1,349/16,806 4.7 2,905/61,505 
			 2002 8.3 1,432/17,259 4.7 2,937/62,982 
			 2003 7.9 1,341/16,903 4.9 3,174/64,319 
			 2004 8.5 1,419/16,694 4.9 3,320/67,251 
			 2005 8.5 1,473/17,379 5.0 3,360/67,852 
			 2006 8.5 1,646/19,254 5.1 3,568/69,700 
			 2007 9.2 2,162/23,487 5.2 3,904/75,272 
			 2008 10.0 2,600/26,094 5.7 4,422/78,156 
			 2009 10.2 2,797/27,431 5.9 4,614/78,274 
		
	
	
		
			  Diagnoses of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes and genital warts in patients over 44 years as a percentage of all diagnoses made in genitourinary medicine clinics in the UK, 2000-09 
			   Chlamydia  Gonorrhoea  Syphilis 
			   %  (Number /total)  %  (Number /total)  %  (Number /total) 
			 2000 1.7 1,148/67,173 4.6 977/21,292 18.0 59/327 
			 2001 1.7 1,303/75,216 5.0 1,161/23,166 14.7 105/715 
			 2002 1.7 1,452/86,127 5.0 1,248/25,009 15.9 189/1,186 
			 2003 1.7 1,576/94,597 5.4 1,313/24,443 16.3 254/1,563 
			 2004 1.8 1,824/103,137 5.6 1,231/21,845 17.0 371/2,176 
			 2005 1.9 2,019/107,908 6.0 1,139/18,874 18.0 468/2,600 
			 2006 2.0 2,211/112,013 6.6 1,223/18,480 18.0 462/2,565 
			 2007 2.1 2,565/120,058 6.3 1,156/18,291 19.9 500/2,518 
			 2008 2.3 2,756/122,276 6.6 1,061/16,121 22.0 507/2,304 
			 2009 2.5 2,851/114,686 7.2 1,225/17,001 23.2 535/2,311 
		
	
	
		
			   Genital herpes  Genital warts 
			   %  (Number /total)  %  (Number /total) 
			 2000 7.8 1,372/17,590 4.5 3,139/70,414 
			 2001 7.9 1,481/18,696 4.7 3,425/72,540 
			 2002 8.2 1,577/19,187 4.6 3,440/74,013 
			 2003 8.0 1,512/18,979 4.9 3,682/75,639 
			 2004 8.4 1,583/18,815 4.9 3,862/79,093 
			 2005 8.4 1,655/19,591 4.9 3,930/80,352 
			 2006 8.5 1,843/21,605 5.0 4,144/82,592 
			 2007 9.1 2,360/26,010 5.2 4,560/88,396 
			 2008 9.9 2,854/28,807 5.6 5,111/91,503 
			 2009 10.0 3,025/30,126 5.9 5,356/91,257 
			  Notes:  1. The data available from GUMCAD/KC60 returns are for diagnoses made in GUM clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded.  2. The data available from the GUMCAD/KC60 statutory returns are the number of diagnoses made, not the number of patients diagnosed.  3. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data.  4. Data are available only for the age group = 45 years.   Source:  Health Protection Agency, GUMCAD/KC60 returns. Date of data: 25 August 2010.

Sleep Apnoea

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department issues to GPs on raising awareness of the symptoms and risks for drivers of obstructive sleep apnoea.

Simon Burns: The Department does not issue guidance to general practitioners on this matter.

Social Services: Finance

Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of adult social care in Warwickshire in  (a) 2020,  (b) 2040 and  (c) 2060.

Paul Burstow: We have not made any estimates concerning the future cost of adult social care in Warwickshire.
	The funding of care and support is one of the biggest challenges faced by society today. Because of our ageing population and advances in healthcare, we expect the number of older people and younger adults with a potential care need to increase by around 1.7 million over the next 20 years. This is double the present number receiving publicly funded care. Urgent reform is needed to ensure there is a fair partnership between the state and the individual in meeting care costs; help people protect their assets; and give individuals and carers more control over their care and support.
	This debate has continued for too long without a solution. So the Government established the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support in July this year to make recommendations on how to achieve a fair and sustainable funding system for care and support for all adults in England. The Commission will present its recommendations to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State by the end of June 2011.

Social Services: Older People

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the effect on local authority health care budgets of the cost of provision of care services for the elderly in the next five years.

Paul Burstow: The Department routinely considers the impact of the needs of older people on local authority budgets.

Stem Cells

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had on the future of stem cell research  (a) nationally and  (b) in the East Midlands.

David Willetts: I have been asked to reply.
	I have not had any recent discussions on the future of stem cell research, either nationally or in the east midlands. The Research Councils are the principal public funders of stem cell research. In keeping with the Haldane Principle, decisions about scientific priorities are left to those best placed to evaluate the scientific efficacy of proposed research.
	I took part in the BioIndustry Association (BIA) Regenerative Medicine Industry Group press briefing on 22 September. The purpose of the day was to promote the benefits that translating the UK's world class stem cell research can bring to the nation's health and wealth.

Tobacco: Retail Trade

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Tewkesbury of 8 September 2010,  Official Report, column 567W, on display of tobacco products, 
	(1)  if he will consult  (a) retailers,  (b) the Regulatory Policy Committee and  (c) other affected parties on the options for the display of tobacco products in shops;
	(2)  if he will conduct an impact assessment in respect of options for the display of tobacco products in shops.

Anne Milton: Options for regulating the display of tobacco products were included in the 2008 publication 'Consultation on the future of tobacco control', to which the Department of Health received nearly 100,000 responses. In 2009 a further consultation was carried out on the detail of draft tobacco display regulations, 'Consultation on proposed tobacco control regulations for England (under the Health bill 2009)'. In the light of responses to that consultation, changes were made to the final regulations which aimed to reduce burdens on retailers while balancing their concerns with those of public health groups. During this process retailers, and other affected parties were consulted.
	The Government, in discussions across Whitehall, are developing options around the display of tobacco in shops that seek to ensure an appropriate balance between public health priorities and burdens on business, taking into account the previous consultations and ongoing conversations with stakeholders.
	No decision has yet been made but should there be a change to the current regulations (the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display)(England) Regulations 2010) then a new impact assessment would be developed and consideration would be given to whether further consultation with retailers, the Regulatory Policy Committee, or other affected parties, the would be necessary.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Aimhigher Programme: Merseyside

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Aim Higher Greater Merseyside partnership in enabling young people to progress to higher education.

David Willetts: The Aimhigher programme is managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and delivered through 42 partnerships of schools, colleges and universities in England. HEFCE ensures effective delivery of the programme through annual monitoring and approval of partnership delivery plans.
	Analysis of data shows that, over the period 2004-09, the number of applicants from 11-18 schools in Greater Merseyside receiving intensive Aimhigher support increased more than twice as quickly as those from 11-18 schools receiving less Aimhigher support. Over the same period, accepted applicants from 11-18 schools receiving intensive Aimhigher support rose more than twice as quickly as those from 11-18 schools receiving less Aimhigher support. This analysis is not able to separate out the effect of Aimhigher from that of other factors.

Apprentices

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department has provided to the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement.

John Hayes: The following table shows the funding provided to the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) each year since its inception in 2006.
	
		
			  Financial year  Full year spend (£) 
			 2006-07 (1)175,596 
			 2007-08 313,262 
			 2008-09 375,472 
			 2009-10 311,165 
			 (1) AAN was established part way through the 2006-07 financial year.  Note: The budget for 2010-11 financial year is £300,000. 
		
	
	The Apprenticeship Ambassador Network provides feedback to the Government on issues which affect the quality and effectiveness of apprenticeships; and as ambassadors, encourages the business community, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to offer apprenticeships.

Apprentices

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on reforming funding for apprenticeships for persons aged  (a) 19 and over and  (b) 25 and over; and if he will make a statement.

John Hayes: The Department's recent consultation on "A Simplified Further Education and Skills Funding System and Methodology" sought views on simplifying funding rates for post-19 provision including apprenticeship framework rates. Over 350 responses have been received to the consultation which closed on 14 October. This includes responses from representative organisations and key stakeholders across the sector.
	In parallel our "Skills for sustainable growth: consultation on the future direction of skills policy" outlined our vision for skills and what we expect to be the key elements of a strategy for delivering it. Apprenticeships are an important element of our plans and we are currently considering over 120 responses received.
	We expect to communicate the outcomes from both consultations this autumn.

Apprentices

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department operates an apprenticeship scheme.

Edward Davey: This Department does operate an apprenticeships scheme.

Broadband: Derbyshire

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of homes which have access to  (a) a dial-up internet connection,  (b) broadband and  (c) high-speed broadband in (i) Derbyshire and (ii) High Peak constituency.

Edward Vaizey: This Department has made no such estimate. However, Broadband Delivery UK is assessing current broadband provision at community level in its work on delivery of the Coalition Government's superfast broadband and universal broadband access commitments.

Business Link: Skipton

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses operating in Skipton and Ripon constituency have  (a) contacted,  (b) applied for support and  (c) received support from Business Link in each of the last five years.

Mark Prisk: Applications to Business Link for support are not recorded on a constituency basis. However, figures are available for the Craven and Harrogate local authority areas in North Yorkshire. Skipton is a parish within the Craven district and Ripon is a parish within the borough of Harrogate. The number of businesses accessing support from Business Link Yorkshire in the Craven and Harrogate local authority areas in each of the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			  Reporting period  Number of businesses contacted Business Link  Number of businesses that received intensive assistance from an adviser 
			 April 2010 to September 2010 1,861 378 
			 April 2009 to March 2010 7,721 808 
			 April 2008 to March 2009 7,006 343 
			 April 2007 to March 2008 5,713 326 
			 April 2006 to March 2007 5,505 209 
		
	
	Other types of support received by SMEs via Business Link in the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			   Innovation Vouchers( 1)  Events( 2)  Skills 
			 April 2010 to September 2010 (4)- 1,346 To June 2010, 13 learners from 54 business were supported 
			 April 2009 to March 2010 (4)- 3,232 554 learners from 201 businesses were supported with their skills needs by Business Link Yorkshire 
			 April 2008 to March 2009 n/a 2,392 n/a 
			 April 2007 to March 2008 n/a n/a n/a 
			 April 2006 to March 2007 n/a n/a n/a 
			 (1) £3,000 of financial support plus assistance in finding the right academic from the region's universities and knowledge institutions (2) Offering free information and advice to businesses (3) Training support (4) 24 businesses in Harrogate and 12 in Craven have been awarded an Innovation Voucher since their launch in January 2009 
		
	
	Up to March 2008 the service provider was Business Link North Yorkshire and from April 2008 it was Y&H IDB Ltd. The service provider prior to April 2008 has now ceased trading and therefore it has not been possible to gather all the information requested.

Business: Co-ownership

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether officials of his Department provide information on co-ownership structures to businesses.

Edward Davey: The Department is currently examining the information made available on:
	www.Businesslink.gov.uk
	and through other channels, to ensure that businesses and other organisations are able to make appropriate choices about the legal forms and ownership structures that best suit their operations.
	The Government are committed to encouraging new and existing businesses to consider the benefits of models which enable co-ownership and engagement by employees, by customers or by wider communities-while acknowledging that such models will not be appropriate for all businesses.

Business: Co-ownership

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will review the financial performance of the co-owned sector at company level.

Edward Davey: The Department has already examined the available evidence, which suggests that business models which enable co-ownership, for example by employees and customers, can provide benefits in terms of business performance. It does not consider that a further review is necessary.
	The Government are therefore committed to encouraging new and existing businesses to consider the benefits of such models-while acknowledging that they will not be appropriate for all businesses.

Business: Government Assistance

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps he has taken to increase access to finance for small businesses in Witham constituency.

Mark Prisk: The coalition Government have articulated their ambition to ensure the flow of credit to viable SMEs. Our consultation on business finance issues "Financing a private sector recovery" closed on 20 September, and received many responses from a wide range of firms, business representative bodies, individuals and investors. I am currently considering the Government's response which will be given shortly and which will feed into the forthcoming Growth White Paper. The Growth White Paper will set out the Government's strategy for promoting sustainable growth and creating a stable environment that enable businesses to grow with confidence.
	There are various measures already in place to support access to finance for SMEs. I aim to continue to support and improve the diversity of sources and access to finance for SMEs that meet their needs. Such sources of finance available to SMEs including those in your constituency of Witham were announced by the Chancellor in the budget:
	A £200 million extension to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG), to benefit around 2,000 extra small businesses. In total, the EFG will now support up to £700 million in bank lending to viable small businesses. As at 6 October 2010, 16 businesses in the constituency of Witham have been offered loans totalling £2.69 million, of which, 15 businesses have drawn down £2.65 million.
	A new Enterprise Capital Fund to support small businesses with high growth potential-combining both Government and private sector funding.
	Confirmation of a Growth Capital Fund, to provide funding of between £2 million and £10 million for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with strong growth potential.
	We are also shortly expecting recommendations from the banking industry taskforce, led by the British Bankers Association, which was announced in the Green Paper.

Business: Performance Standards

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward legislative proposals to  (a) establish overall four band rating of a company's social and environmental performance and  (b) place a duty on companies to indicate such ratings on the products they produce.

Edward Davey: We have no current plans to legislate in these areas.

Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will assess the contribution of the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus to the UK science base; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus was created in 2006 to build upon the science and technology facilities at the Daresbury Laboratory. The development of the campus has included the establishment of the Daresbury Innovation Centre for new businesses and the Cockcroft Institute, a world class centre for accelerator science. Over £20 million of investment has been secured to date by the campus' tenant companies.
	In 2009, Daresbury won the UK Science Park Association (UKSPA) award of 'Outstanding Science Park'. The Science and Technology Facilities Council, the North West Development Agency and Halton borough council are currently seeking a commercial partner to develop the campus further.

Debts: Advisory Services

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will provide additional  (a) guidance and  (b) resources to citizens advice bureaux and other debt advisory services to deal with the rising numbers of people facing insolvency.

Edward Davey: Over the summer, Treasury officials undertook an internal review of Government support for debt advice to help support ministerial decisions in the context of the spending review. Officials have actively been seeking views and advice from other Government Departments and the debt advice sector, which includes Citizens Advice and other debt advice agencies to draw together evidence for the review. We want to ensure that the Government could in future secure the best possible value for taxpayers' money from any public support for debt advice.
	In addition, I have launched a review of consumer credit and personal insolvency jointly with Mark Hoban and a call for evidence in support of the review was published on 15 October.

Departmental Communication

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what instructions have been issued by the private office of each Minister in his Department on the preparation of briefing, speeches and replies to official correspondence.

Edward Davey: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Departmental Drinking Water

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each year since 2008.

Edward Davey: Since 2008 the Department spent the following on mains fed bottled water:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008 11,091 
			 2009 10,825 
			 2010(1) 10,692 
			 (1) year to date

Departmental NDPBs

Jo Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made in reducing the number of non-governmental public bodies and executive agencies sponsored by his Department.

Mark Prisk: We are taking radical steps to reform the network of bodies sponsored by my Department. We have announced that we are abolishing 17 partner organisations, merging eight, reconstituting two as charities in the private sector, and giving further consideration to the future of nine more. Full details of all the changes to BIS partner organisations can be found at:
	www.bis.gov.uk
	To support this work the Government have announced a Public Bodies Bill, to give Ministers the power to abolish or merge public bodies, or transfer their functions to other bodies.

Departmental NDPBs

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made in reducing the number of non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies sponsored by his Department in the East of England.

Edward Davey: As part of the public bodies streamlining programme, regional development agencies, including the East of England Development Agency, will be abolished and functions which are to be retained will be transferred to central or local government or other bodies.
	To support this work the Government have announced a Public Bodies Bill to give Ministers the power to abolish or merge public bodies, or transfer their functions to other bodies.
	There are no plans to abolish or merge any other BIS-sponsored bodies based in the East of England. The others are the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, based in Hertfordshire, Construction Skills, based in King's Lynn and Official Receiver's offices in Cambridge, Ipswich, Southend and Norwich.

Departmental Responsibilities

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what plans he has for the future of his Department's automotive unit;
	(2)  what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's automotive unit.

Mark Prisk: No specific assessment of the effectiveness of the Department's automotive unit has been made although I am aware of the high regard in which this and many other teams in BIS are held. The activities of all parts of the Department will be reviewed in the light of the outcome of the Spending Review to be announced on 20 October 2010.

East of England Development Agency: Great Yarmouth

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to ensure that the income from assets held in Great Yarmouth by the East of England Development Agency will be re-allocated to Great Yarmouth for development and regeneration purposes after the Agency is closed.

Mark Prisk: This Department is currently working with the East of England Development Agency to gather a full picture of all their assets and liabilities. No decisions have yet been made on the future of these assets. The Government's aim is to use funding for economic development as effectively as possible and to target resources where they are most needed. Consideration will be given to options for disposal, transfer, or retention of these assets consistent with the Government's commitment to localism.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the monetary value is of guarantees  (a) applied for and  (b) granted under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mark Prisk: Under the enterprise finance guarantee, as of 6 October 2010, almost 12,200 businesses have been offered loans with a value of £1.24 billion. Of which, over 10,400 businesses have drawn down loans totalling almost £1.05 billion.
	The Department plays no role in the application or decision-making process. Businesses may apply for a loan from any one of the accredited participating lenders who will assess which form of lending, including an enterprise finance guarantee backed loan, is appropriate. We do not hold figures for those businesses which are instead offered a normal commercial loan, or are rejected for failing to meet the lender's commercial criteria.
	A Government guarantee of up to 75% of the outstanding balance of the loan is payable to the lender in the event that a business defaults on their loan repayments.

Export Credit Guarantees

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether all applicants for Export Credits Guarantee Department support are informed of his Department's policy on child and forced labour.

Edward Davey: Applications for ECGD support that fall within the ambit of the OECD Council Recommendation on Common Approaches on the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits (the Common Approaches) are screened by ECGD for potential environmental, social and human rights impacts, including potential use of harmful child and forced labour. This screening is undertaken in compliance with ECGD's published policy to comply with all international agreements which apply to the operations of export credit agencies, including the Common Approaches. The Common Approaches requires that relevant projects should meet international standards, usually those of the World Bank Group. The International Finance Corporation's Performance Standard 2 which covers Labour and Working Conditions addresses harmful child and forced labour issues. ECGD has published guidance on its website on the processes and factors in ECGD's consideration of applications. This guidance explains the applicability of the Common Approaches to the provision of its
	support for export contracts.

Further Education: Capital Investment

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many further education colleges he expects to receive capital funding from his Department in 2010-11.

John Hayes: The Skills Funding Agency has budgeted to support 288 colleges with capital funding during 2010-11. Support includes funding for projects completed during the year as well as those currently underway from both the mainstream FE capital fund and the recent £50 million renewal and enhanced renewal grant funds.

Further Education: Curriculum

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to enable further education colleges to offer additional  (a) degrees and  (b) diploma level courses.

David Willetts: Further education colleges are a vital component of the higher education landscape, offering a range of higher education qualifications including diplomas, foundation degrees and degrees, and providing accessible learning to approximately 10% of students in the sector.
	Enhancing the contribution of further education colleges to higher education is one of a number of institutional issues in the wake of Lord Browne's independent review of higher education and student finance which requires thorough debate and consultation. We intend therefore to publish a Higher Education White Paper with detailed proposals to which experts from the sector can react, leading, subject to Parliamentary time, to a Higher Education Bill in autumn 2011.

Further Education: Degrees

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with further education colleges and universities on the provision of degrees in further education colleges.

David Willetts: Ministerial colleagues and I have regular discussions with representatives of universities and colleges covering a wide range of policy interests, including the provision of higher education in further education colleges.
	Further education colleges are a vital component of the higher education landscape, offering a range of higher education qualifications including diplomas, foundation degrees and degrees, and providing accessible learning to approximately 10% of students in the sector.

Further Education: Finance

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has for expenditure on further education college buildings in the next three years.

John Hayes: holding answer 14 October 2010
	The Skills Funding Agency has budgeted to support 288 colleges with capital funding during 2010-11. Support includes funding for projects completed during the year as well as those currently under way from both the mainstream FE capital fund and the recent £50 million renewal and enhanced renewal grant funds. Capital funding beyond this period will be subject to the outcome of the comprehensive spending review.

Higher Education: Admissions

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the percentage change was in the number of students from low income backgrounds entering higher education between  (a) 1980 and 1997 and  (b) 1997 and 2010.

David Willetts: This information is not held centrally.

Higher Education: Admissions

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of school leavers in low-participation neighbourhoods entering higher education.

David Willetts: Information on the proportion of school leavers from low participation neighbourhoods entering higher education is not available.
	However, the latest available information from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) estimates that 19% of young people (aged 18 or 19) from low participation neighbourhoods in England entered higher education in the 2009/10 academic year. This information is taken from the HEFCE report "Trends in young participation in higher education: core results for England" (2010/03), which was published in January of this year. The key findings of the report and the full report can be found at this link:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2010/10_03/

Higher Education: Chester

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of school leavers in City of Chester constituency entered university in the last 12 months.

David Willetts: Information on the percentage of school leavers who progress to higher education is not available at constituency level, therefore local authority data have been provided as an alternative.
	36% of pupils aged 15 in 2003/04 from maintained schools in Cheshire local authority progressed to higher education by age 19 in 2007/08.

Higher Education: Grants

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the monetary value is of the higher education teaching grant for 2010-11; and what the Barnett consequentials are of that grant in respect of the block grant to the Scottish Executive.

David Willetts: In the Secretary of State's Grant Letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England of 24 June 2010, the level of teaching grant was £5,107 million for 2010-11. As this budget area is devolved to England, there is no consequence for the block grant to the Scottish Executive.

Higher Education: Overseas Students

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  how many students from EU member states other than the UK received funding from the Government to attend a university in the UK in each year from 2005 to 2010; and what the cost to the public purse was of such funding in each such year;
	(2)  how many students from non-EU countries received funding from his Department to attend a university in the UK in each year from 2005 to 2010; and at what cost to the public purse in each such year.

David Willetts: The information is as follows:
	 Numbers of students
	The following table presents the headcount number of undergraduate and taught postgraduate students attending higher education institutions in England who are funded by the English Government Departments via the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Note that fundable students domiciled outside the EU will all have a relevant connection to the EU, eg armed forces stationed overseas, diplomatic service.
	2008/09 is the most recent year for which figures are currently available; figures for 2009/10 will be available in early 2011.
	
		
			  Number of fundable undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at higher education institutions in England, by domicile group (headcount, thousand, academic years 2005/06 to 2008/09) 
			  Domicile  2005/06  2006/07  2007/08  2008/09 
			 UK (E, W, S and NI) 1,338 1,344 1,334 1,267 
			 EU (non-UK) 65 69 72 70 
			 Overseas (non-EU, inc. islands) 10 11 10 8 
			 Total 1,413 1,423 1,416 1,345 
			  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data, via Higher Education Funding Council for England. 
		
	
	 Funding for teaching
	Total HEFCE recurrent grant for teaching, which also funds higher education studied in further education colleges and some postgraduate research courses is in the region of £5 billion per year. It is not possible to provide a precise breakdown of cost by domicile because HEFCE funding reflects the different costs of different modes, levels and price groups (ie classroom and laboratory based subjects). But if funding was distributed equally across these domicile groups according to the numbers of full-time equivalent student numbers, an estimate of the teaching grant costs of these groups would be:
	
		
			  HEFCE recurrent grant for teaching (£ million, cash terms, academic years 2005/06 to 2008/09, by domicile) 
			  Domicile  2005/06  2006/07  2007/08  2008/09 
			 UK (E, W, S and NI) 4,170 4,360 4,510 4,660 
			 EU (non-UK) 220 250 270 280 
			 Overseas (non-EU, inc. islands) 30 30 30 30 
			 Total 4,420 4,630 4,820 4,970 
			  Sources: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data, via Higher Education Funding Council for England; and Department for Business and Innovation and Skills' (and predecessors) 'Grant Letters' to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. 
		
	
	 Student support
	Under EC law, European Union (EU) students are eligible to the same access to education as those from the member state. Tuition fee loans are paid directly to the higher education institution, not the student. EU nationals are generally eligible for tuition fee support only, provided that they have been ordinarily resident in the European economic area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course. Certain EC nationals and those from the wider EEA (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) who are exercising a treaty right to work in the UK (EEA migrant workers) may also be entitled to claim maintenance support in the form of grants and loans.
	EU nationals have been eligible to apply for tuition fee loans since their introduction in academic year 2006/07. Borrowers do not become liable to repay until the April following graduation which means that the majority of EU students were not liable to repay until April 2010.
	
		
			  Tuition fee loans to EU students studying in England 
			  Academic year  Number of loans  Sum borrowed  (£ million) 
			 2006/07 8,700 23.7 
			 2007/08 15,600 44.5 
			 2008/09 (provisional) 21,100 62.8 
			  Source: Student Loans Company 
		
	
	EU nationals who have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course may also qualify for maintenance loans. In addition, certain EEA and Swiss migrant workers and specified family members, children of Swiss nationals and children of Turkish workers in the UK may be eligible for the full support package provided that they satisfy specific residence conditions.
	Student support is not generally available to students from non-EU countries.

Internet: Wi-fi

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 14 July 2010,  Official Report, column 804W, on the internet: wi-fi, if he will issue guidance to proprietors of premises offering wireless internet access on the provisions on illegal file-sharing in the Digital Economy Act 2010.

Edward Vaizey: We remain confident that the implementation of the initial obligations under the online infringement of copyright provisions in the Digital Economy Act 2010 will not cause undue difficulties for premises offering wireless internet access. We have said that there are simple and proportionate steps such bodies can adopt but I do not think that it would be appropriate for the Government to issue the guidance suggested. Different networks and local set-ups will call for different approaches and measures, and in our view the best source of authoritative advice will be the supplier of internet services to the premises.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his timetable is for the introduction of local enterprise partnerships; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: We received 58 outline proposals for local enterprise partnerships in response to the joint letter from the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, dated 29 June.
	Ministers are currently examining the proposals in detail, looking at how they will support economic growth, before providing feedback to partnerships in due course. More details on local enterprise partnership policy will be set out in the White Paper on sub-national growth due to be published later in the autumn.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many local enterprise partnerships he expects to be established.

Mark Prisk: The development of local enterprise partnerships is a bottom up process. No estimate has been made on the optimal number of LEPs to be established. We wish to enable partnerships to better reflect the natural economic geography of the areas they serve and hence to cover real functional economic and travel to work areas. In addition, we would expect that partnerships to be of sufficient size to be able to have a strategic oversight of the area covered.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: East of England

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many local enterprise partnership bids covering  (a) all and  (b) part of the East of England his Department has received.

Mark Prisk: No local enterprise partnership proposals have been submitted that cover the entire East of England region. Proposals received that cover part of and are contained within the East of England Region are:
	East Anglia (Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and North Essex)
	Norfolk
	Hertfordshire
	Proposals received that cover more than one region including the East of England are:
	Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough
	South East Midlands
	Kent and Greater Essex

Mature Students: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of mature students resident in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency who are undertaking  (a) part-time and  (b) full-time degree courses.

David Willetts: The latest information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shows in the 2008/09 academic year, there were 225 part-time and 385 full-time mature (aged over 21) first degree enrolments at UK higher education institutions from Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
	Figures for the 2009/10 academic year will be available in January 2011. The Department has recently received updated parliamentary constituency data therefore figures may not match those previously published. Figures exclude students studying degree courses in further education colleges as the Department does not hold these data at constituency level.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on the merits of research and development tax incentives for the car and motor manufacturing industries.

Mark Prisk: The automotive trade association (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) and a number of companies have discussed R&D tax incentives for the automotive sector with this Department recently. Taxation is, of course, a matter for HM Treasury.

Overseas Trade: Philippines

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on trade with the Philippines; what steps he is taking to increase trade with the Philippines; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Mark Prisk: The Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), has had no recent visitors from the Philippines.
	To help deliver the Government's ambitious growth and prosperity agenda, the Philippines has been identified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as one of South East Asia's six emerging powers.
	UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), whose parent departments are the FCO and BIS, lead on trade and investment promotion with the Philippines. The UKTI team in the Philippines is delivering the full range of commercial services to British companies and participates in Asia task force promotional events in the UK. These events are supported by Ministers, wherever possible, and highlight business opportunities in Asia, including the Philippines, at various venues throughout the UK. Recent events were in London on 8 July and Manchester on 9 July. Future events will take place in Bristol, Newcastle and Hinckley between 23 and 25 November.

Part-time Education: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of students resident in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency who are undertaking part-time higher education courses.

David Willetts: The latest information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shows in the 2008/09 academic year, there were 850 part-time enrolments on HE courses in UK higher education institutions from Bexleyheath and Crayford parliamentary constituency. This covers students on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
	Figures for the 2009/10 academic year will be available in January 2011. The Department has recently received updated parliamentary constituency data therefore figures may not match those previously published. Figures exclude students studying degree courses in further education colleges as the Department does not hold these data at constituency level.

Power Stations

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what programmes his Department has in place for encouraging best practice in power generation in respect of operations and maintenance services.

Charles Hendry: I have been asked to reply.
	The Department has no programmes that are specifically related to best practice in the operation and maintenance of power generation plants. Government set the regulatory framework under which electricity generation plants operate. This framework, supported by requirements set out in Environmental and Health and Safety legislation and in the grid code, gives the owners of electricity generation plants a commercial incentive to ensure that their plant is reliable. This creates an incentive to ensure that operations and maintenance services are carried out in an efficient and timely manner to support the Government's security of supply objectives.

Public Expenditure

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funds were  (a) bid for and  (b) allocated during the most recent bidding round for Enterprise Capital Funds.

Mark Prisk: The Enterprise Capital Fund (ECF) does not have bidding rounds in the award of its funds. It is a rolling programme, assessing bids as they come forward and there are currently nine ECFs with a total commitment of £237 million. A further ECF mandate was announced at Budget in June 2010 providing up to £37.5 million commitment.
	Capital for Enterprise Ltd., the body established to manage the Government's equity gap funds has a pipeline of potential ECF managers and, subject to the outcome of the spending review, expects to award further mandates on a rolling basis.

Regional Development Agencies

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the costs it will incur in ending regional development agencies.

Mark Prisk: It is not possible at present to estimate RDA closure costs. The work will be undertaken in a way that seeks to protect taxpayers' interests.

Regional Development Agencies

Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether regional development agencies are to be required to fulfil their remaining duties under contracts they have entered into.

Mark Prisk: As part of closure it is expected that RDAs will review their existing contractual commitments to see if there are opportunities to novate or exit, either in accordance with break clauses or with the consent of other parties. It is expected that RDAs will consider contracts on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the rights of contractual counterparties and with a view to protecting both taxpayers' interests and the delivery of key projects.

Royal Mail

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of Royal Mail.

Edward Davey: Royal Mail is taking forward the modernisation of the business through the implementation of its transformation plan. An agreement has been reached with the Communication Workers Union that paves the way for this modernisation over the next three years. The plans will improve the operational efficiency of the company as it faces the challenge of falling market volumes and competition from other postal operators and other communications media.
	The Government welcome the progress of the modernisation programme so far which has been achieved with the co-operation of the work force.
	On 13 October, we introduced the Postal Services Bill which will enable Royal Mail to access private sector capital for future investment and modernisation of the business. The Bill will also enable the Government to tackle Royal Mail's pension deficit and put in place a new regulatory regime for the postal sector.

Science: Economic Growth

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that the science and innovation sector contributes to economic growth.

David Willetts: Science and innovation are critical to our future prosperity and strongly supported by this Government. As part of the spending review, we are continuing to strengthen the way we support science and innovation, and improving the way they contribute to economic growth.

Small Businesses: Coastal Areas

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the provision of support for small and medium-sized enterprises based in coastal towns.

Mark Prisk: We are committed to renewing and strengthening local economies, including those of coastal towns-and are enabling business and local authorities located in genuine economic areas to come together to form local enterprise partnerships (LEPs). LEPs will provide strategic leadership in their areas to set out local economic priorities, creating the right environment for business and growth and responding to local needs. We are currently considering the proposals we have received, looking at how they will support economic growth, before providing feedback to partnerships ahead of the publication of the White Paper on sub-national economic growth and the introduction of the Localism Bill.
	Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 99% of private businesses, and their performance and activity is a key driver of the UK economy. If we are to promote growth, we need to support small businesses by addressing the challenges they face. Whilst acknowledging that there may be separate issues for coastal towns, which will be addressed in their locality by their LEP, we have recently announced a series of measures to address the generic issues for SMEs in the UK has a whole, which include: ensuring we have a predictable tax system that rewards endeavour; enabling better access to both debt and equity finance; and reducing red tape.
	To make sure the tax system rewards endeavour and encourages SMEs to grow and thrive, we announced a rise in entrepreneurs' relief lifetime limit from £2 million to £5 million, and a reduction in small profits rate (small companies' rate) from 21% to 20%. We also made changes to national insurance contributions (NIC), raising the employers' threshold to increase the number of employees for whom employers pay no NICs by 650,000 and introducing a regional employer NIC holiday to encourage new businesses in selected regions to take on employees.
	Because ensuring that growing businesses can access the finance they need is vital to growth, we extended the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) by £200 million at June's Budget, benefiting around 2,000 extra small businesses. We have also announced two new capital funds for SMEs with growth potential, and will shortly respond to the recent Green Paper on the future of business finance.
	One of our earliest priorities for the coalition was to make sure that there is less red tape and less regulation, giving businesses an opportunity to expand. We have already introduced a "one-in, one-out" rule for new regulation, a new Cabinet Reducing Regulation Committee, and a review of all inherited regulation in the pipeline. The "Your Freedom" website, launched within two months of the election, gave businesses and the public the opportunity to let us know what regulations we should be looking at or scrapping, and we are taking forward suggestions put forward.

Small Businesses: Retirement

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the likely effects on small and medium-sized enterprises of proposed changes to the compulsory retirement age.

Edward Davey: We are currently consulting on our proposals to phase out the default retirement age, including how support can be provided to business in adapting to the change. The Government's survey of employers' policies and practices relating to age showed that small establishments (employing less than 50 employees) were least likely to have a compulsory retirement age for some or all staff and medium-sized establishments were among the most likely. The consultation document incorporating the impact assessment considers the impact on small firms. The closing date for the consultation is 21 October.

Students: Finance

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students received funding from the Government to attend universities outside the UK in each year from 2005 to 2010; and what the total cost to the public purse was of such funding in each such year.

David Willetts: Government fund higher education in England through a combination of teaching grants provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), to the institution and student support provided by Student Finance England to the individual. HEFCE do not generally pay teaching grants to institutions outside of England, although there are exceptions, including the British Institute in Paris, as a constituent college of the University of London. To be eligible for student support, students in England should be domiciled in England and enrolled to study with a UK institution.
	BIS currently funds a small number of bursaries for postgraduate students at the College of Europe and the European University Institute (EUI) and previously at the Bologna Institute. From September 2010 the regulations allow funding of 11 places at the College of Europe and 20 at EUI. Expenditure on these bursaries since the academic year 2004/05 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Bursaries paid to postgraduate students at College of Europe, EUI and Bologna Institute 
			  Academic year  Value (£000) 
			 2004/05 328 
			 2005/06 422 
			 2006/07 354 
			 2007/08 426 
			 2008/09 462 
		
	
	UK students can receive funding from the European Commission's Erasmus Programme to spend up to a year of their degree course in another higher education institution at one of the other 33 European countries participating in the Programme. It is estimated that around 11,700 UK students undertook such placements in 2009/10. To facilitate take-up of the programme the Higher Education Funding Council for England made around £3.5 million available to higher education institutions as fee waiver compensation. It should be noted that the Erasmus programme is funded by the European Commission, only the associated fee waiver is funded by HEFCE.

Students: Finance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what definition of the term graduate contribution in respect of higher education funding his Department uses.

David Willetts: In general, when referring to a graduate contribution, the Government are referring to the personal financial contribution that the individual makes towards the funding of their higher education after leaving university rather than as a student. This is in contrast to the contribution made by the taxpayer via use of public funds.

Students: Loans

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many student loans made to citizens of other EU Member States are outstanding; how many of those loans are being repaid; and what the monetary value is of outstanding repayments.

David Willetts: Under EC law, European Union (EU) students are eligible to the same access to education as those from the member state. Tuition fee loans are paid directly to the higher education institution, not the student. EU nationals are generally eligible for tuition fee support only, provided that they have been ordinarily resident in the European economic area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course.
	EU nationals have been eligible to apply for tuition fee loans since their introduction in academic year 2006/07. Borrowers do not become liable to repay until the April following graduation which means that the majority of EU students were not liable to repay until April 2010.
	Data on balances and numbers of borrowers as at 31 March 2010 are available from the Statistical First Release on Student Loans for Higher Education published by the Student Loans Company (SLC) at:
	www.slc.co.uk/pdf/slcsfr032010.pdf
	These show that there were 39,000 borrowers with EU tuition fee loans of which 400 had fully repaid. The outstanding balance (including loans not due for repayment) was £167.1 million. The majority of these borrowers were still at university or had recently left and were therefore not yet liable to begin repaying. 4,300 were liable to repay with a balance of £12.2 million.
	Information on repayment status as at 30 April is available from the SLC publication on Repayments by Repayment Cohort and Tax Year at:
	www.slc.co.uk/pdf/SLCOSP032010.pdf
	The following figures exclude those who became liable to repay after March 2010, in order to be more consistent with figures in the preceding paragraph. This publication shows that a further 400 borrowers had repaid their loan in full, 400 were making repayments and a further 1,900 were not required to do so because their earnings were below the threshold or HMRC are in the process of confirming their earnings.
	In addition, as at that date, 1,000 were considered to be in arrears. This figure includes accounts where borrowers have defaulted on their loan repayments. However, the majority (900) are borrowers who are known to be overseas, have not provided details of their income, and have therefore been set up with repayment schedules and put into notional arrears in order that the Student Loans Company (SLC) can commence tracing and possibly legal action where appropriate. This is an essential step in the overseas collection process. SLC were still seeking information to establish the correct repayment status of the remaining borrowers. Figures in the publication are rounded to the nearest 100, therefore figures in this answer derived by adding categories are approximate.
	The April 2010 publication shows detail of the new cohort of students who completed their courses in summer 2009 and who had just become liable to repay in April 2010, but this is only a snapshot at a very early stage in the repayment process.
	EU nationals who have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course may qualify for the full support package. In addition, certain EEA migrant workers and specified family members may be eligible for the full support package provided that they satisfy specific residence conditions. Information is not available in the format requested which separately identifies these borrowers from English borrowers.

Supermarkets: Competition

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will consider the merits of altering the remit of the proposed Grocery Supply Chain Ombudsman to cover investigations of the carbon dioxide emissions incurred by supermarkets in transporting food.

Edward Davey: The coalition programme for Government, published on 18 May, makes a commitment to introduce a Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) to enforce the Grocery Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) and curb abuses of power which undermine our farmers and act against the long-term interest of consumers.
	The GSCOP contains specific provisions that aim to address the Competition Commission's concerns over the exercise of buyer power by large supermarkets and their suppliers. The Government set out their proposals for the creation of the GCA on 3 August
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-law/docs/competition-matters/10-1011-groceries-supply-code-practice-government-response.pdf
	The Government have no plans to extend the remit of the GCA to cover matters outside of the GSCOP.

Training: Devon

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will allocate resources to support the development of the skills centre in Newton Abbot constituency to extend training opportunities in skills relevant to the local economy.

John Hayes: The Government are committed to a skills system that is more responsive to individuals and employers, where employers can lead and shape the system and where individuals are informed and empowered by access to high quality, independent careers advice and guidance. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the future allocation of public resources for skills in advance of the comprehensive spending review to be published in the week commencing 18 October. As part of our wider reforms, we have already taken action to free local colleges and training organisations from unnecessary central controls and bureaucratic burdens so that they can respond quickly and flexibly to the skills needed in their local communities.

Vocational Training

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what process his Department is following to consult on the right to request training for employees in small businesses; and if he will make a statement.

John Hayes: We recently ran a public consultation on the future of the right to request time to train as part of our review of regulations introduced since January. The consultation closed on 15 September. This consultation was actively promoted to all of the employer representative bodies, including the Federation of Small Business, and the TUC, and 147 consultation responses were received. We are now considering the responses before making our recommendation to the Reducing Regulation Committee (RRC). A summary of the consultation will be published by December.

Vocational Training

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to increase vocational learning opportunities in  (a) Witham constituency,  (b) Essex and  (c) nationally.

John Hayes: Our consultation, Skills for Sustainable Growth, which outlined our vision of building an internationally competitive skills base and ensuring we have a skills system that prepares people for work and then to progress, closed on 14 October. Our priorities are to invest in quality, drive up professional standards and compete on high skills. We will publish a full strategy for skills after the Spending Review on 20 October which will set out how we intend to support these priorities.
	The Government's decision to redeploy £150 million of our savings for 2010-11, creating an additional 50,000 adult Apprenticeship places, demonstrates our commitment to high-quality skills. The National Apprenticeships Service and the Skills Funding Agency are working with training providers which will be encouraging employers to make these additional places available.
	In 2008/09 there were around 100 new apprenticeship starts in the Witham area. Essex county council is currently working with the National Apprenticeship Service on an Apprenticeship Training Agency pilot which is testing out a new way to make it easier for businesses to take on apprentices in the area and has already created over 100 new apprenticeship places.
	On a national basis, the Skills Funding Agency has been working to focus public funding on vocational qualifications on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) which are designed to meet employers and learners needs. Currently over 44% of QCF vocational qualifications are in receipt of public funding and during 2009/10 there were over 600,000 learners, both pre and post 19, following publicly funded learning aims.